Overuse Injuries in Athletics: A Fresno Athlete’s Guide to Prevention and Treatment

As an athlete, you are constantly pushing your body to the limit. Whether it’s during your practices, a game, or your hobbies at home, overuse injuries are a constant risk. Injuries caused by repetitive motion can make it hard to stay in the game. Proper treatment and prevention of overuse injuries is important for Fresno athletes or the risk of permanent injury becomes too great.

Explore the Most Common Overuse Injuries

Overuse injuries are caused by repetitive stress placed on the bones, joints, ligaments, muscles, and tendons. That stress comes from:

• Constant Training: Training so hard that you push your body too much and end up with tiny tears in the ligaments, muscles, and tendons.
• Failure to Rest: After a game, you need to give your body time to rest. Your muscles need time to rebound. If you’re finishing a game and going hiking with friends, you’re not giving your body time to recover.
• Incorrect Techniques: You’re given your warm-ups, but what if you haven’t learned how to do them correctly? Many athletes are told to warm up, but those warm-ups only help if they’re done correctly. Otherwise, you can cause damage. 
• Poor Diet: Your body needs to have the fuel it needs to repair damage and provide the nutrients needed for cellular recovery. You need to have a high-protein diet and plenty of fruits and vegetables for the antioxidants.
• Weaker Muscle Groups: You may have strong calf muscles, but are your thigh muscles also strong? If one muscle group is weaker than another, the stronger muscle group has to do more work. That increases the risk of muscle damage.

Those are the top reasons why you’re getting injured, here are the common overuse injuries.

Bursitis

Within your joints are bursae, which are fluid-filled sacs that cushion your joints. Those sacs can become inflamed with overuse, which causes pain and swelling. Typically, the elbow, hip, knee, and shoulder are the joints most commonly impacted by bursitis.

Golf/Tennis Elbow

Golfer’s and tennis elbow are conditions where the tendons in the arm that connect to the elbow become inflamed and swollen. The overuse of the wrist and clenched hand affects the tendons causing this condition. It’s a form of tendonitis, specifically medial epicondylitis, which we’ll cover in a minute.

Runner’s Knee

Runner’s knee occurs with the constant motion of the leg while you step or run. Overuse of that knee joint leads to pain when kneeling, sitting, squatting, running, or walking is common. Pain, grinding, and clicking noises are common with this condition. 

Stress Fractures

Stress fractures are incredibly common due to the force of your body when you step, jog, leap, or jump. The bones, especially in the feet, take a lot of stress with those motions, so hairline fractures are a risk when you play sports.

Tendonitis

Tendonitis is the inflammation of a tendon anywhere in the body. The inflammation causes swelling and pain in areas like the elbow, hands, knee, and hip. In addition to golfer’s and tennis elbow, some of the common types of tendonitis are Achilles tendonitis (back of the heel), rotator cuff tendonitis, trigger finger, and DeQuervain’s tenosynovitis, which occurs in the thumb.

Tips For Preventing Repetitive Motions From Causing Permanent Injury

The good news is that most overuse injuries are preventable. We have some strategies you can use to prevent injuries from overuse, especially when you can’t avoid a repetitive motion.

• Eat a Healthy Diet: Fill your body with nutrients that help with muscle and cell repair. Many people fail to eat enough protein. Make sure you’re eating enough each day. If you’re not sure how much protein to eat, talk to a doctor about sports nutrition and exercise. Fruits and vegetables are also important because they’re rich in antioxidants that help with cell recovery.
• Cross-Train: When you engage in different activities, it helps exercise every muscle group. If you play tennis where your arms get a lot of use, try something like cycling where your legs get a workout. Strength training is also important for making sure all muscles get the appropriate workout.
• Start Slowly and Build Gradually: Don’t dive right into a sport. You need to start slow and work your way up to full engagement.
• Use the Right Techniques: When you’re working out, make sure you’re using the proper technique. It’s always best to work with a personal trainer who is experienced in how to move the muscles for effective workouts that build strength, flexibility, and range of motion without causing damage. 
• Pay Attention to Your Body: Pay attention to your body. Constantly scan your muscles, bones, and joints for any warning signs. If there’s a twinge of pain that’s different, it’s time to stop and assess. If something seems wrong, stop and rest and call a sports and orthopedic specialist.

When possible, work with a specialist in sports training. A medically researched and supervised fitness program is important for preventing the overuse of muscles and joints. Fitness training involves a lot of research into how a body’s musculoskeletal structure is designed and works. When your training program is designed by a medical professional, you build muscle strength, flexibility, and range of motion correctly and safely.

A Healthy Body Requires a Comprehensive, Holistic Plan

A lot of sports-related overuse injuries are treated at home with rest. Don’t overexert. Take time off and kick back between games. Find a less strenuous hobby for those days when your body needs to rest.

What if it’s too late? If you are already suffering and in pain, Premium Sports & Orthopedics has options to help with cell repair.

• PRP Injections: This treatment uses the platelet-rich plasma extracted from your blood and injected into your joints. That plasma aids in the healing process. It’s also an effective way to manage pain without using steroids.
• Stem Cell Therapy: The injection of stem cells aids with the healing and repair of damaged bones, cartilage, ligaments, and tendons. It’s a great option for tendonitis and torn ligaments.

Avoid overuse injuries that keep you from enjoying your favorite sport by making sure you have a comprehensive, holistic plan. At Premium Sports & Orthopedics, there are several ways to prepare for a game without doing damage to your body. 

Consider talking to Dr. Green about a Medical Weight Loss and Fitness Program to get into shape or get the essential nutrients you need to aid muscle and cell repair. Our IV Drip Therapy services are quick, easy, and help restore the vitamins and minerals you used up while working out.

Finally, consider EMS workouts that use mild electrical impulses to stimulate the muscle fibers while you work out. This helps build muscle faster than if you simply work out. Give us a call or schedule an appointment online.