Have you ever watched or played lacrosse? If you have, then you already know it’s one of the toughest, fastest, exhilarating sports around. You got checking, change of momentum, a ball flying at your head at over 80 miles per hour. It can lead to injuries, though.
Hi, my name is Anna Aldridge. I’m the manager of sports medicine, and I’m here to talk to you about what those injuries might be, how to prevent them, as well as how to treat them if they do happen. Some of these common injuries are contusions or bruises, of course.
Sometimes fractures, but also ankle sprains, muscle strains like your quads, your hamstrings, your hip flexors. Unfortunately, in some scenarios, a knee ligament injury like your ACL, MCL, or LCL, but also concussions.
In addition to that, let’s not forget our shoulders. Shoulder injuries can also occur with chronic overhead use or getting hit in the shoulder by a chuck or a hip. The point of this video is not to avoid playing hard, but to play smart so that you can stay on the field your entire season. So how do we prevent those injuries? Let me first tell you a secret. It starts before the game. You want to make sure you’re doing at least 10 to 15 minutes of dynamic whole body stretches. In addition to that, you want to make sure you’re doing strengthening exercises too, like squats and lunges, single leg balance to help improve ankle instability, core exercises like plank, side plank, bird dog, as well as shoulder exercises that include resistance bands, whether it’s internal or external rotations, or I’s, Y’s, and T’s.
Even if you do everything right, injuries still sometimes happen. If they do, remember PEACE and LOVE. Peace, meaning protect your injury, elevate and compress when appropriate, and also educate yourself on that injury, which may mean seeking help from a healthcare professional. Love, meaning load your injury with exercises or movement, with pain being tolerable, as well as remaining optimistic and positive because positivity can actually help with the healing process.
Those exercises will help with vascularization and the healing process. Playing through the pain may sound tough, but reporting that injury sooner will have you back on the field quicker and your recovery faster.
If you or someone you know has fallen and hit their head on the ground or got hit during play, when in doubt, sit it out. Never play if you suspect a concussion. Seek help from a healthcare provider so that you can start a step-by-step return to play progression for a safe return to play. If you have any questions or are injured, please give us a call at Tahoe Forest Sports Medicine at (530) 582-7488.
