It’s common for athletes to experience different types of pain when they’re constantly pushing and training their muscles to excel in their preferred sport. Still, working through sports injuries can put a serious damper on your performance, body, and mind.
Pain relief often includes medical interventions or pain-relieving drugs, usually leading to short-term results and recurring injuries. Still, lasting pain relief is possible by treating your pain’s root cause instead of managing its symptoms. Consult our guide to learn about long-term pain relief for athletes and its importance.
Understanding Pain and Injuries in Athletes
Pain from sports injuries falls into two categories. Acute pain stems from sudden injuries like a sprain, broken bone, or severe bruise. Chronic pain due to the overuse of body tissues is the other category.
When exploring how injuries affect athletes, you can’t ignore the mental and emotional effects of a sports injury. According to the Sports Science Institute’s Guide To Understanding and Supporting Student-Athlete Mental Wellness, athletes can experience a range of emotions when they sustain an injury. They could feel:
- Frustrated
- Sad
- Disengaged
- Unmotivated
- Angry
- Irritated
Those emotions and reactions are normal, but they’ll worsen over time without help. Taking an active role in pain management and treating the cause of the injury instead of the symptoms will help the body and the mind.
The Importance of Fixing the Root Cause
Addressing the pain signals you feel after an injury shouldn’t produce short-term results. Unfortunately, that’s usually the case when you treat your pain instead of your injury.
For example, let’s say you continue training and playing with a sprained ankle but take pain relievers before each game. Though treatment of chronic pain sometimes includes medication, pushing through the pain and playing your sport with a sprain could transform that minor injury into a major one. Your muscles, tendons, and ligaments could weaken, the pain will worsen, and your recovery time will increase.
Getting an accurate diagnosis and treating the underlying cause of your pain is the best way to obtain lasting pain relief.
How Should Athletes Deal with Injuries?
So, how should athletes deal with injuries? The answer differs based on each person, their injury, skill level, gender, and other factors. Still, it’s crucial to maintain a positive outlook and a sense of patience to expedite your healing.
A nutritious diet and regular exercise are always great for an injury. Eating a diet with olive oil, nuts, cherries, tomatoes, fatty fish, and leafy green vegetables can help reduce inflammation, which contributes to pain. Engaging in regular exercise also aids in your recovery by boosting your blood flow and circulation.
Take your recovery a step further by seeking professional help for your injury diagnosis and treatment, learning when to rest, and participating in rehabilitation exercises instead of your normal regimen.
Treatment Methods at St. Johns Chiropractic & Performance
At St. Johns Chiropractic & Performance, we provide a holistic approach to sports injury treatments. We offer comprehensive services that’ll identify and treat the cause of your injury without leaving you to rely solely on pain relievers and their common side effects.
You’ll have a 60-minute appointment with Dr. Grant Speer, who will talk to you about the injury, medical history, and health goals before thoroughly examining you. The exam will encompass everything, from the way you move your body to your stability.
Services include chiropractic care to interrupt and redirect pain signals from your nervous system, nutritional counseling, ergonomics advice, and rehabilitation exercises to help you reach a full recovery sooner rather than later.
The Path to Lasting Pain Relief Starts at St. Johns Chiropractic & Performance
If you want lasting pain relief after a sports injury, the best thing you can do for yourself is to manage the injury’s cause, not its symptoms. Fortunately, we at St. Johns Chiropractic & Performance are here to help. Unlike other chiropractors, we use a wide range of holistic services and approaches to eliminate pain at the root and restore the central nervous system’s function.
Start your path to wellness and injury recovery today by calling (904) 875-2650 to schedule an appointment at St. Johns Chiropractic & Performance.
