4 Summer Sports Injuries & How Physiotherapy Gets You Back in the Game

Did you know that golf, baseball and tennis have a lot in common?  In addition to being three of the most popular summer sports they also share some of the most common sports injuries.    

Lifemark clinics assist many people with summer sports related injuries, including lower body strains and sprains, shoulder injuries, tennis elbow and low back strains. The sudden starting and stopping associated with tennis and baseball can result in lower body strains and sprains, and the repetitive swinging motion involved with all three sports can cause upper body strains and injuries.

Players are Most Commonly Sidelined by Sprains and Strains

The most common sports injuries are strains and sprains. Sprains are injuries to ligaments, the tough bands of tissue connecting bones around joints. Strains are injuries to muscle fibers or tendons, which anchor muscles to bones. Sudden movements, like returning a serve in tennis or stealing a base in baseball, can overload ligaments and/or tendons, resulting in tears, while over using muscles and tendons can cause inflammation or tears.

Swinging your Way to Lower Back Strain, Shoulder Injuries, and Tennis Elbow

The repetitive motion involved with swinging a club, bat, or racket can result in several types of injuries. 

During a swing, players perform a sudden twisting movement and exert a significant amount of pressure and force through the hip joints, low back  and surrounding muscles.  With a single swing or with repetitive movements over time, this can lead to muscle strains around the hip and low back, as well as disc issues in the spine.

The rotator cuff, which is comprised of four shoulder muscles whose tendons run across the shoulder joint, provide control and power during a swing. If a tendon is pinched or “impinged” in the shoulder, it can lead to tendonitis or tears in the rotator cuff tendons.

Tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow are the result of irritation and inflammation of the tendons at the elbow.  The effort to maintain a strong grip, along with repetitive movements of the swing and shockwaves which travel up the arm when contact occurs, can cause the irritation.

Get Back in the Game with Physiotherapy  

Injuries can happen to anyone of any age or skill level. If you are sidelined with a sports injury, physiotherapy can help speed up recovery and get you back in the game.

Working with a physiotherapist can help you regain movement, reduce pain and provide exercises and body mechanics strategies to help you heal or strengthen your body to prevent problems down the road.

Don’t stay on the sidelines. If you’re injured, let a Lifemark physiotherapist help you get back in the game.