Many muscle and joint problems result from playing sport, which often places stress on specific areas of the body. Sports related injuries can generally be divided into 2 categories:
The first type are injuries which result from over-use of a particular group of muscles and are usually chronic or long-term. This fits into the “repetitive strain” category and most commonly affects the muscle and its tendon causing pain, inflammation and loss of use. A common example of this is when a tennis player over-uses the extensor muscles in his/her forearm, causing inflammation of the tendon known as “tennis elbow”. Like most cases where a muscle or joint has been over-used or strained in this way, it can be effectively treated with progressive manipulation and stretching of the key muscles affected. Common repetitive strain injuries include:
- Tendonitis
- Bursitis
- Muscle strain involving myofascial damage
- Frozen Shoulder
- Sacro-iliac joint problems
- Postural Syndromes
The second type of injury results from a specific incident such as a twist, fall or impact injury. This is an acute injury and usually involves damage to ligaments, joints and the surrounding muscular tissue. After diagnostic tests identify the specific areas affected, progressive massage and mobilization techniques are used to achieve a normal range of movement in the joint and encourage healing of the surrounding tissue to take place. Examples of this type of injury treated are:
- Torticollis/ wry neck
- Whiplash
- Dislocation of the shoulder joint
- Back pain resulting from a fall or ligament strain
- Knee problems - meniscus damage/ collateral or cruciate ligament damage
- Ankle sprain/twist
