All sports have a risk of injury, but with a little early preparation, you can possibly prevent injuries that could keep you from enjoying your favorite sport. Wearing the right gear, increasing flexibility and taking breaks are just a few examples that can go a long way toward keeping you physically healthy.
Henry Mayo's Physical Therapy Services specializes in the rehabilitation of the athletic patient population and competitive sports participants. Our assessment and treatment approach is based on identifying faults in our athletes' sports specific movement patterns that may lead to injury, in order to reduce the incidence of injuries, and improve optimal sports performance.
Listen in as Charles Young, MD., discusses sports injury prevention.
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Sports Injury Prevention
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Learn more about Charles Young, MD
Charles Young, MD
Charles Young, MD is an orthopedic surgeon and a member of the medical staff at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. He practices in Valencia, CA, is 39 years old and has been practicing for 14 years.Learn more about Charles Young, MD
Transcription:
Melanie Cole (Host): All sports have a risk of injury, but with a little early preparation, you could possibly prevent injuries that could keep you from enjoying your favorite sport. My guest today is Dr. Charles Young. He’s an orthopedic surgeon and a member of the medical staff at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. Welcome to the show, Dr. Young. What are some of the most common sports injuries that you see?
Dr. Charles Young (Guest): Thanks for having me. Common things are common, usually like muscle strains, joint sprains, overuse injuries – these types of things are the most common things that we see.
Melanie: Let’s talk about some of those and prevention of those. If somebody is a weekend warrior or they're in athlete to begin with, what do you recommend is the most important bit of information for them in keeping really good physical fitness so they don’t get injured for their sport?
Dr. Young: There's a couple things that are important. One is to be active within your means. It’s important to be active, but everyone’s got a different level that they're at, and that’s going to change over time, and that’s going to change based on their preference and their fitness and other factors. Be active within your means because it’s when you get outside of those ranges that you might get into trouble and have an accident that then sidelines you for even longer. That’s probably the first thing I’d talk about with people.
Melanie: Flexibility. People are always asking me “should I stretch before I start my activity, whether it’s running or whatever, or do I wait until I'm warm and then stretch?” What do you tell them?
Dr. Young: That’s a great question. That’s one that’s a little bit harder to answer because the studies on it are a little bit conflicting. There's really probably never been great evidence to say that stretching overall prevents injuries in any way, but when you try to dice that information down a little bit more, you find that there are certain activities that might benefit from stretching, and that’s those sports that involve really explosive types of movements, like basketball or soccer or these sort of things where you're making quick movements. The ones that involve more of a general fluid movement – swimming, biking, running – these don’t seem to benefit as much from the stretching. Flexibility, however, is probably important to preventing injuries. Whereas stretching right before a particular workout may not do a whole lot of good, but in general, making stretching part of your normal routine and maintaining overall flexibility probably is a good thing.
Melanie: What do you tell patients, Dr. Young, about things that they can do that will help their sport rather than hinder it – things that they can do such as cross training and strength training? What do you tell them about that?
Dr. Young: Conditioning is always really important, and so, that’s the strength part of what you just talked about. Again, there's lot of ways to condition muscles. The low impact stuff is the best – things like walking, stationary bike, elliptical trainers, low weight high repetition weight training – these are the things that are the safest for the joints and give you the conditioning that you need. There are some sports that require a lot more strength and if you're going to venture into those, you just need to make sure you have the proper form, the proper technique and that'll give you the best bet of avoiding the injury.
Melanie: Dr. Young, we’re always hearing about sports specific training and certainly with kids and they concentrate on one sport – baseball players, tennis players, whatever – and what do you tell people about that cross training to try and get off season for a little while to prevent chronic injuries and doing another sport that might match up well on the off season?
Dr. Young: This goes back to that overuse that I mentioned at the very beginning. It is important to take time off. It doesn’t necessarily have to be complete rest, but like you mentioned, off season training – where you're doing something different than you’ve been doing the rest of the time – it seems important to at least have a day off per week for rest, and at least a month off per year of your normal training, and maybe doing something a little bit different to allow your body to recover and prevent those overuse injuries.
Melanie: We’re hearing a lot about ACL in girls playing soccer. Do you have some specific advice on how they can prevent this injury? What kind of training should they be doing?
Dr. Young: You're right that girls seem to be at higher risk for ACL injuries. The other group that seems to be at a higher risk is anyone who’s had a family member previously had an ACL injury – whether it be their mother, their father, a sibling. The best way to prevent these types of injuries is actually not strengthening the knee at all – it’s strengthening the hip, the core, and the low back muscles. These are the base of your movements and they found that the position of the core and of the hip – particularly avoiding something called valgus alignment of the leg, which is a little bit in the weeds – but it’s goes along with that hip strengthening. That’s how you prevent getting your knee into that risk position. When it’s in that risky position, that’s where the ACL receives higher loads and it might fail. By strengthening the hip and the core, you prevent that, and there's lot of information online and pictures and routines that you can follow that are specifically for ACL prevention.
Melanie: Minor injuries that might be acute, Dr. Young, when somebody gets one we hear about RICE and such, are you an ice man if it’s a chronic injury? Are you a heat man? Do you like braces? If someone is suffering from nagging pains when they play tennis or go running, what do you tell them to do?
Dr. Young: Here's another topic that doesn’t have a lot of scientific evidence to support it – whether you should ice or whether you should heat or whether either of them do anything. Probably neither of them really change outcomes a whole lot. Ice we tend to tell people to use for swollen joints, heat we tend to use for cramping muscles or other muscle type pain, but in general, you can use ice or hot for either one and we usually tell people to just use whichever one feels better. The biggest benefit of those two things is their pain reducing effects. That’s the most important. In terms of bracing, again, everybody is a little bit different. In some people, braces work great, and in some people, they're just too restrictive, or for whatever reason, they just don’t tolerate them very well. These are things that if you're having some minor joint pain, it’s a good idea to try it out, see how it works for you, but if it doesn’t seem to really work out, it’s probably not something that you should continue with.
Melanie: When do you tell patients to sit on the sidelines for a while? Men that play tennis can pull a groin pretty easily and some of these are just be nagging, but they could be something acute. When do you tell them it’s time to sit it out for a little while?
Dr. Young: Probably pain is the best indicator. If you’re having some new pain, that’s probably a time to figure out what's going on and sit out. If you're having a chronic nagging pain that hasn’t been evaluated, that’s probably another time to sit out and get it checked out.
Melanie: Shin splints, Dr. Young. What do you recommend for those?
Dr. Young: Shin splints, they respond to stretch exercises, and again, there are very specific type of stretching exercises called eccentric ankle stretching exercises. Again, you can look these up online or a therapist might be able to help you out with them, but it’s not something that’s going to go away right away. It’s something you have to do in a sustained fashion to prevent this from coming back.
Melanie: When is it time to see a physician about some of these injuries?
Dr. Young: It probably goes back to that previous answer where if you're having some new significant pain that has sidelined you or if you're having something that’s just been a chronic nagging issue that you can't seem to get to go away with the normal stuff that people would try – like an anti-inflammatory medicine or the icing or the brace that we talked about – if those things keep going on, you probably should have it checked out, just to make sure that you're not doing any further damage.
Melanie: Wrap it up for us, Dr. Young, in summary. It’s great information and people need to hear it because they want to get out – they want to be active – what do you tell them as your best advice for preventing sports injuries or injuries from exercise in any way?
Dr. Young: The main thing is first be active. The second thing is be active within your means. Don’t try to do too much. If you do develop some pain or some problem, seek help.
Melanie: Thank you so much for being with us today. You're listening to It’s Your Health radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. For more information, you can go to HenryMayo.com. That’s HenryMayo.com. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
Melanie Cole (Host): All sports have a risk of injury, but with a little early preparation, you could possibly prevent injuries that could keep you from enjoying your favorite sport. My guest today is Dr. Charles Young. He’s an orthopedic surgeon and a member of the medical staff at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. Welcome to the show, Dr. Young. What are some of the most common sports injuries that you see?
Dr. Charles Young (Guest): Thanks for having me. Common things are common, usually like muscle strains, joint sprains, overuse injuries – these types of things are the most common things that we see.
Melanie: Let’s talk about some of those and prevention of those. If somebody is a weekend warrior or they're in athlete to begin with, what do you recommend is the most important bit of information for them in keeping really good physical fitness so they don’t get injured for their sport?
Dr. Young: There's a couple things that are important. One is to be active within your means. It’s important to be active, but everyone’s got a different level that they're at, and that’s going to change over time, and that’s going to change based on their preference and their fitness and other factors. Be active within your means because it’s when you get outside of those ranges that you might get into trouble and have an accident that then sidelines you for even longer. That’s probably the first thing I’d talk about with people.
Melanie: Flexibility. People are always asking me “should I stretch before I start my activity, whether it’s running or whatever, or do I wait until I'm warm and then stretch?” What do you tell them?
Dr. Young: That’s a great question. That’s one that’s a little bit harder to answer because the studies on it are a little bit conflicting. There's really probably never been great evidence to say that stretching overall prevents injuries in any way, but when you try to dice that information down a little bit more, you find that there are certain activities that might benefit from stretching, and that’s those sports that involve really explosive types of movements, like basketball or soccer or these sort of things where you're making quick movements. The ones that involve more of a general fluid movement – swimming, biking, running – these don’t seem to benefit as much from the stretching. Flexibility, however, is probably important to preventing injuries. Whereas stretching right before a particular workout may not do a whole lot of good, but in general, making stretching part of your normal routine and maintaining overall flexibility probably is a good thing.
Melanie: What do you tell patients, Dr. Young, about things that they can do that will help their sport rather than hinder it – things that they can do such as cross training and strength training? What do you tell them about that?
Dr. Young: Conditioning is always really important, and so, that’s the strength part of what you just talked about. Again, there's lot of ways to condition muscles. The low impact stuff is the best – things like walking, stationary bike, elliptical trainers, low weight high repetition weight training – these are the things that are the safest for the joints and give you the conditioning that you need. There are some sports that require a lot more strength and if you're going to venture into those, you just need to make sure you have the proper form, the proper technique and that'll give you the best bet of avoiding the injury.
Melanie: Dr. Young, we’re always hearing about sports specific training and certainly with kids and they concentrate on one sport – baseball players, tennis players, whatever – and what do you tell people about that cross training to try and get off season for a little while to prevent chronic injuries and doing another sport that might match up well on the off season?
Dr. Young: This goes back to that overuse that I mentioned at the very beginning. It is important to take time off. It doesn’t necessarily have to be complete rest, but like you mentioned, off season training – where you're doing something different than you’ve been doing the rest of the time – it seems important to at least have a day off per week for rest, and at least a month off per year of your normal training, and maybe doing something a little bit different to allow your body to recover and prevent those overuse injuries.
Melanie: We’re hearing a lot about ACL in girls playing soccer. Do you have some specific advice on how they can prevent this injury? What kind of training should they be doing?
Dr. Young: You're right that girls seem to be at higher risk for ACL injuries. The other group that seems to be at a higher risk is anyone who’s had a family member previously had an ACL injury – whether it be their mother, their father, a sibling. The best way to prevent these types of injuries is actually not strengthening the knee at all – it’s strengthening the hip, the core, and the low back muscles. These are the base of your movements and they found that the position of the core and of the hip – particularly avoiding something called valgus alignment of the leg, which is a little bit in the weeds – but it’s goes along with that hip strengthening. That’s how you prevent getting your knee into that risk position. When it’s in that risky position, that’s where the ACL receives higher loads and it might fail. By strengthening the hip and the core, you prevent that, and there's lot of information online and pictures and routines that you can follow that are specifically for ACL prevention.
Melanie: Minor injuries that might be acute, Dr. Young, when somebody gets one we hear about RICE and such, are you an ice man if it’s a chronic injury? Are you a heat man? Do you like braces? If someone is suffering from nagging pains when they play tennis or go running, what do you tell them to do?
Dr. Young: Here's another topic that doesn’t have a lot of scientific evidence to support it – whether you should ice or whether you should heat or whether either of them do anything. Probably neither of them really change outcomes a whole lot. Ice we tend to tell people to use for swollen joints, heat we tend to use for cramping muscles or other muscle type pain, but in general, you can use ice or hot for either one and we usually tell people to just use whichever one feels better. The biggest benefit of those two things is their pain reducing effects. That’s the most important. In terms of bracing, again, everybody is a little bit different. In some people, braces work great, and in some people, they're just too restrictive, or for whatever reason, they just don’t tolerate them very well. These are things that if you're having some minor joint pain, it’s a good idea to try it out, see how it works for you, but if it doesn’t seem to really work out, it’s probably not something that you should continue with.
Melanie: When do you tell patients to sit on the sidelines for a while? Men that play tennis can pull a groin pretty easily and some of these are just be nagging, but they could be something acute. When do you tell them it’s time to sit it out for a little while?
Dr. Young: Probably pain is the best indicator. If you’re having some new pain, that’s probably a time to figure out what's going on and sit out. If you're having a chronic nagging pain that hasn’t been evaluated, that’s probably another time to sit out and get it checked out.
Melanie: Shin splints, Dr. Young. What do you recommend for those?
Dr. Young: Shin splints, they respond to stretch exercises, and again, there are very specific type of stretching exercises called eccentric ankle stretching exercises. Again, you can look these up online or a therapist might be able to help you out with them, but it’s not something that’s going to go away right away. It’s something you have to do in a sustained fashion to prevent this from coming back.
Melanie: When is it time to see a physician about some of these injuries?
Dr. Young: It probably goes back to that previous answer where if you're having some new significant pain that has sidelined you or if you're having something that’s just been a chronic nagging issue that you can't seem to get to go away with the normal stuff that people would try – like an anti-inflammatory medicine or the icing or the brace that we talked about – if those things keep going on, you probably should have it checked out, just to make sure that you're not doing any further damage.
Melanie: Wrap it up for us, Dr. Young, in summary. It’s great information and people need to hear it because they want to get out – they want to be active – what do you tell them as your best advice for preventing sports injuries or injuries from exercise in any way?
Dr. Young: The main thing is first be active. The second thing is be active within your means. Don’t try to do too much. If you do develop some pain or some problem, seek help.
Melanie: Thank you so much for being with us today. You're listening to It’s Your Health radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. For more information, you can go to HenryMayo.com. That’s HenryMayo.com. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.