As for the many of us summer lovers ⛱ are coming back home after holidays, full of energy and motivation to keep being in great shape(because it just feel so good💪🏼),let's define the two most common issues that can happen to you while you're enjoying going back to your favourite sports!
You´ve definitely heard of, or even had the doubtful pleasure of having, one of them. Or both!
SPRAIN is an injury to a ligament. Ligaments are structures that connect two or more bones to a joint. When a sprain happens, one or more ligaments is stretched or torn.
Symptoms that follow the sprain include:
Pain
Bruising
Swelling
Inflammation
STRAIN is an injury to a muscle or tendon (fibrous cords of tissue connecting muscle to bone). In a strain, a muscle or tendon is stretched or torn.
Symptoms that follow the strain include:
Pain
Muscle spasm
Muscle weakness
Swelling
Inflammation
While none of them are pleasant and can majorly disrupt our active lives, they regenerate relatively fast. If you're experiencing mild symptoms of sprain or strain, it is usually recommended to treat them with rest, ice, compression, and elevation (also known as R.I.C.E. therapy). Unfortunately, even a mild sprain or strain causes (at first minor) changes in how your body operates, displaces the gravity centre to lean off of the injured area, and forces the body to operate in an unhealthy way. Untreated and/or repeated, can cause major problems in the rest of the musculoskeletal system, other joints, muscles and the spine will take the brunt of the injury. Left alone, unbeknownst to you, it can create a domino effect(we will talk about that in another article).
Both might seem like a small thing, but never underestimate them. Don´t wait for them to turn onto a major, whole body problem. To heal them and reverse the effects they take on your body some of the best methods are manual therapy, chiropractic treatments, physiotherapy and similar practices dealing with both muscular and skeletal systems. Take care of your body and your body will generously repay the favour. :)