Understand your injuries - and return like Lazarus! (From The Northern Echo)

Understand your injuries - and return like Lazarus!

10:30am Saturday 11th February 2012 in Sport By Paul Gough

A problem only becomes a problem when there are a lack of options to solve it.

Yet when it comes to injuries in grassroots sport, the contrary is often true.

Injury advice seems to be available everywhere you turn.

The internet, your GP, team-mates and even friends of friends who have had a similar injury, are on hand to offer the magical solution to get you back into your boots as quickly as possible.

The ease of access to information these days often means that players, parents and coaches are able to make more informed decisions about an injury.

This is great when you get it right, but if you get it wrong it can be very dangerous and inevitably will add weeks to the length of time you'll be absent from the field of play.

Every Sunday morning team has a player who seems to have had just about every injury going, who is very quick to share is story and offer a the solution to the injury problem.

Two weeks ago I was on the sidelines watching a Sunday morning game in Darlington and overheard a player going so far as to tell an injured team-mate exactly when he will be fit to play. "Don't worry mate, this happened to me, you'll be fit next week," he said as the injured player was being carried off the field.

Perhaps this player made a Lazarus style recovery in the same manner as Hartlepool manager Neale Cooper described Evan Horwood's injury recovery.

Having being stretchered off the field in agony, the left back returned to training just three days later.

I wrote in this column some months ago that Horwood has an amazing ability to recover from injury but that was super quick. Maybe he made another trip to Seaton beach to dip his injured leg in the cold sea water in the same manner as Novac Djokovic did during the Australian Open recently?

As an injury becomes more common, so too the number of people offering an opinion on how to solve it.

The second most common injury in sport is an ankle sprain. One of the things I've noticed is that many people are unsure what the difference is between a tear of the ligaments and a sprain. It's really the same thing, just a different term.

A full tear is where the ligament is snapped, but most common is a slight tear or a sprain followed by a little bit of swelling and bruising that will side line you for two to three weeks.

It is usually caused when you jump and land awkwardly. The amount of swelling depends upon how badly damaged your ligaments are. This is one of the signs that will determine how long you will be absent for. More swelling often means a longer lay-off.

Ankle injuries are also more common in players who have really tight calf muscles and poor balance.

You are more likely to suffer an ankle sprain again if it isn't treated properly in the first place. This can then lead to really tight calf muscles and Achilles tendons, meaning that you're on a vicious circle of problems.

Read next week's column and I will explain how you help prevent ankle problems and crucially share with you one or two methods I used to use with professional footballers to help decide when you are fit to return from an ankle sprain.