PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) – It’s still summer, but students are already hitting the fields to practice for fall sports. And while they’re excited to see sports start up again, parents are often worried their kids will get hurt while playing sports. In this week’s Medical Monday, NewsSource8 reporter Karri Triplett shares the best ways to minimize sports injuries and how to treat them when they do happen.

Students are storming the practice fields, getting in shape for the start of fall sports. There is always a risk of injury in any sport. The most common sports injuries are typically sprains and strains, which can occur suddenly or over a long period of time, according to Bradley Burlock, a physical therapist assistant at Northern Light AR Gould.

“What you see more early in the season, now, is overuse injuries because they’ve relaxed a little bit over the summer and then they go back to work and go from maybe nothing to 2 hours of practice a day for the week. Usually, in sports where there’s more collisions, like soccer or football, you see more injuries. In sports like swimming, you can get very serious concussions if someone makes a wrong jump and dives too deep instead of diving out flat. That’s one way to get a pretty serious head injury. In any sport where there’s a lot of energy involved, people are moving fast and have to stop quickly. Kids grow and change and are usually ready to go through pretty much anything. Unfortunately, it affects them in ways that they don’t realize until they’re much older.”

Burlock says treatment for sports injuries can vary depending on the type of injury and the needs of the patient.

“The type of injury will determine how long the recovery takes. So that they are strong and safe enough to play the sport without being at a higher risk of injury themselves. So that you can play your sport and have fun and reduce those risks for both you and the stress for your parents. Let’s just say someone sprained their ankle. They would need to come to a therapist and get it checked out so they can see what’s going on, what’s strong and what’s weak. We usually see them two to three times a week and work on strength, mobility and balance to get them back up to playing the sport.”

Burlock says prevention is key to avoiding these types of injuries. Staying active even in the off-season, warming up before strenuous activities, doing stretches and avoiding overuse of muscles and joints can help prevent sports injuries.

All rights reserved.