Stay in the game: Preventing sports injuries

GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA) – Fall sports are right around the corner and medical professionals said it’s important to make sure you are ready before suiting up.

As part of our “Ask the Expert” series, in partnership with Bon Secours St. Francis , 7NEWS spoke with a physical therapist about preventing sports injuries.

Whether you’re hitting the court, field or making a splash into a pool, medical professionals want to make sure you’re preventing injuries before they happen.

“A proper training plan is crucial to any athlete because you want to be objective in however you approach whatever sport you’re in,” said Alex Volfson, physical therapist.

Alex Volfson has rehabbed dozens of patients back to full strength at Bon Secours St. Francis Therapy Center in Powdersville.

“What we are seeing a lot of are kind of these overuse injuries with kids playing more year-round sports,” he said. “It’s really crucial that we try to stay ahead of it and as soon as something pops up we try to get them in and evaluated and see if we could stop it before it becomes a bigger issue.”

Besides overuse injuries, Volfson said they frequently treat patients for ankle, knee, and back injuries.

“We can take a lot of joint angles and see how they progress through a running pattern,” Volfson said as he walked 7NEWS through how they determine a therapy timeline.

From form to strength, physical therapists are using technology to help construct a plan of care. Medical professionals said the length of rehab depends on the severity of the injury. It could take anywhere from a few weeks to several months before your body is back to full strength.

As a team of therapists work to get injured patients back on track, experts shared things athletes can do to prevent having to see them in the first place.

“So warming up and cool down is important. Warmups should be a little bit more dynamic so it shouldn’t be where you are statically stretching,” siad Volfson. “Whatever sport you are doing, let’s say it was running, you should be doing a slower version of that to kind of just get your whole body ramped up for that activity.”

Experts said stretching is a really important aspect of keeping your body competition-ready.

“For stretching you should do your big muscle groups- your quads, your hamstrings, your hip flexors, even through your back depending on what sport you are getting into. But also you kind of want to work on muscular control and what that just means is making sure you are getting those core muscles fired up, your hips they could use some light band work or your core, making sure you are performing the activity,” said Volfson.

Injury prevention is not limited to on-field activities.

“We know with a certainty of fact if you have a lack of sleep it’s going to impact your performance,” said Volfson. “And then hydration, especially in this heat right now, is really important. Because if you are thirsty you are already dehydrated.”

Physical therapists said proper clothing and protective equipment can also benefit your health.

To submit a health topic for our ‘Ask the Expert’ series, click here .

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