Injury Spotlight

SOCCER

Hip Flexor Strains: Common in the soccer population due to the kicking involved, strains occur when a muscle is overstretched causing tearing in the muscle. Therapy is an excellent way to decrease swelling and increase flexibility, strength, returning the individual to playing soccer.

Patello Femoral Syndrome: A more common problem in female soccer players, it involves poor tracking of your patella in the femoral groove. Therapy helps to re-align the patella and decrease pain in the knee joint

MCL/ACL Tear: Soccer players often injure the ligaments in the knee due to the cutting and pivoting required in the sport. The medial collateral ligament and anterior cruciate ligament are two of the four major knee ligaments. Following a tear of one or more of these ligaments, treatment varies from therapy to surgical reconstruction.

Ankle Sprain: Common in Soccer players, it involves over stretching of the ligaments that stabilize the ankle joint. This injury responds well to a therapy program that is designed to increase strength, flexibility, and propricopetion in the ankle joint.

Baseball

Ulnar Collateral Sprain: This injury involves spraining or tearing of the ligament that stabilizes the inside of the elbow joint. This injury often occurs due to poor mobility/strength in the shoulder or from "over throwing". Therapy can help this condition unless there is complete tearing which requires "Tommy John" Surgery.

Labral Injury: The Glenoid labrum is a cartilage washer in your shoulder that helps to increase the stability of the joint. Symptoms of labral injury include popping, feeling of instability in the shoulder, and “dead arm” after throwing.

Rotator Cuff Strain: Overhead Athletes are at a higher risk for injury to their rotator cuffs. The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles that help with stability and movement of the shoulder. Overhead motion can pinch these muscles and over stress them causing injury.

Lumbar/Abdominal Strain: Hitting and throwing involves a lot of trunk rotation, which can cause strain in the abdominal and lower back muscles. Therapy can help decrease the pain and increase the strength in this muscle with sport specific exercises.

Running

Iliotibial Band Syndrome: The ITB is a band of fascia that starts in the hip and crosses the outside of the knee. This band can become inflamed due to tightness and repetitive motion. Symptoms include achy pain on the outside of the knee that can become sharp pain with activities like running and stairs. Physical therapy helps to decrease the inflammation and increase ITB flexibility.

Shin Splints: This syndrome is caused by ischemia of the muscles in the anterior compartment of the leg and by small tears in the tissue, following strenuous exercise. Therapy can help to decrease irritation as well as balance flexibility and leg strength, preventing pain.

Stress Fractures: Stress fractures are micro-fracturing of the bone due to repetitive trauma. Common sites of stress fractures include the tibia and in the metatarsals of the feet. These fractures can be caused by stress from training, poor footwear, insufficient ROM/strength, and hard running surfaces. Following a period of immobilization/NWB (non-weight bearing), therapy helps to return the runner to their normal work-out routine.

Hamstrings Strain: More common in the sprinting athlete, a strain of the hamstrings is caused by overstretching and tearing of the muscle. This injury can range from slight tightness/pain in a Grade I strain to a Grade III season ending rupture in which there often is an audible pop! Therapy is paramount in regaining ROM/strength to return the athlete to running.

Football

Dislocated Shoulder: A common injury with contact sports, a dislocated shoulder occurs when the humeral head is pushed out of the glenoid socket. This can cause damage to the surrounding ligaments/tendons and lead to shoulder instability. Therapy can help this problem with strengthening of the rotator cuff and neuromuscular training exercises designed to prevent recurrent dislocation. Some extreme cases do require stabilization surgery.

Separated Shoulder: A separated shoulder can occur with contact to the outside of the shoulder from a fall or tackle causing a acromioclavicular joint disruption. Following a period of immobilization, therapy is an excellent way to regain full ROM (range of motion) and strength in the shoulder.

Ankle Fracture: Fracturing of the tibia or fibula is common in contact sports that require cutting and pivoting motions. Donovan McNabb fractured his fibula in 2004 and missed most of the season. Following cast removal and possible surgery to stabilize the joint, physical therapy is used to regain full strength, ROM, and proprioception.

MCL Sprain: The medial collateral ligament stabilizes the inside of the knee and is a common injury in football. The mechanism of injury is a force to the outside of the knee such as is involved in tackling. This is a non-surgical injury and responds well to physical therapy.

Golf

Lateral Epicondlyitis: Commonly known as “Tennis Elbow”, lateral epicondlyitis is caused by inflammation of the wrist extensors, over the lateral portion of the elbow. This condition can be caused by overuse, poor mechanics, or trauma leading to pain with gripping type activities. Therapy is an excellent way to eliminate inflammation/pain and increase strength, returning you to golf. In rare instances, surgery may be required.

Medial Epicondylitis: Known as “Golfer’s Elbow", this condition is caused by inflammation in the flexor musculature of the wrist located over the medial elbow. Similar to tennis elbow, this condition responds well to a physical therapy program.

Plantar Fasciitis: Inflammation of the fascia band that connects the heel and the toes in the feet. Signs include pain in the arch that is worse in the morning and increases after activity. Therapy helps to increase flexibility in the Plantar Fascia and calf and strengthen surrounding musculature. Orthotics may be needed to prevent the condition from re-occurring.

Herniated Disc: Golf is a sport that requires rotation of the lumbar spine that can lead to disc herniation. A herniated disc occurs when material inside the disc starts to tear through the outer portion of the disc, and puts pressure on the spinal nerve. Signs include LPB (low back pain) that often radiates down the leg and limits spinal mobility. Therapy is an excellent way to decrease pain and increase mobility/strength in the lumbar spine.