While playing sports is fun, what’s not fun is getting injured while you’re playing a sport. But because people often try to push their bodies to the max when they’re playing sport, it’s not uncommon for people to get hurt while they’re participating in a sport.
Be it getting injured while playing soccer or pickleball, injuries can be painful and set you back on your playtime as well. But if you take care of yourself well, you should be able to get back out there before too long.
To help you with this, here are three things to do if you get injured while playing a sport.
Stop Playing
As soon as you get hurt, it’s important that you stop playing and allow yourself to rest.
The pain associated with getting hurt is your body’s way of telling you that you’ve pushed it too far and your body needs to rest. So if you continue to play even when you’ve been injured, you could be risking getting even more hurt. Even if you just have a sit out for a few minutes while a very minor injury becomes less painful, allowing yourself the time and rest that your body needs after an injury is the best way to ensure that you’re keeping yourself safe.
Follow The RICE Method
If your injury that you’ve sustained is something more than a tweak that just needs a few minutes of rest, your next step after you stop playing should be to follow the RICE method.
With the RICE method, you’ll cycle through resting the injury, icing the injury, applying compression around the injury, and elevating the injury. All of these treatments will help both with the pain of the injury and any swelling or inflammation that takes place around the injury. And because this swelling can often be what’s causing you to be in pain and discomfort, getting the inflammation down as quickly as you can will help get you feeling better and allow you to see the true extent of the injury.
See Your Doctor
For injuries that have you in a lot of pain or that don’t seem to be getting better after a few days of the RICE method, it’s probably wise to see your doctor and have them determine just how severe your injuries are.
Once you’ve seen your doctor and they’ve told you what type of injury you have and what you should do as you heal up, make sure you follow their guidance and rest from playing sports for as long as they advise you to. By following their counsel, you’ll be giving yourself the best shot at healing and recovering so that you can get back out there and keep playing as soon as you’re able to.
If you get injured while you’re playing a sport, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you know what to do to start feeling better.
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