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Sports Principles and Soft Tissue Management

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Athletes should be trained to engage in activities that improve their performance and overall fitness.

Medically reviewed by

Dr. Kaushal Bhavsar

Published At February 8, 2023
Reviewed AtJuly 14, 2023

Introduction:

If an athlete wants to improve their performance, they must follow the principles of individuality, specificity, progression, overload, adaptation, recovery, and reversibility. These principles help the athletes to understand their bodies better and help them to attain their goals.

What Are the Principles of Sports?

  • Individuality: Each athlete possesses different qualities, and they respond differently to training. Some people tolerate higher volumes of training, while some respond better to it. These changes are due to genetic ability, muscle fiber predominance, chronological or athletic age, and mental state.

  • Specificity: It is essential to improve the athlete's ability in sports. If an athlete wants to be a pitcher, running laps will be helpful in overall performance. However, this will not help the athlete to develop the throwing skills and muscular endurance required to throw a ball in the game. Likewise, swimming helps to improve aerobic endurance, and this will not help to develop tissue resilience and muscular endurance for running.

  • Progression: To reach the roof of the building, the person has to climb the first flight of stairs before exiting the top floor and start staring at the landscape. This can be viewed from both a technical skill standpoint and a distance standpoint. Likewise, to swim five hundred freestyle, the athlete must maintain the body position and breathing pattern to complete the distance. Also, they must build muscular endurance to repeat motions several times to finish.

  • Overload: To increase strength and endurance, the athlete must add new resistance or increase the intensity of the efforts. This leads to a road of progression. For example, to run a ten-kilometer race, athletes must increase the distance with repeated sessions to improve soft tissue resilience and muscle adaptation. Any exercises with a sudden increase in speed and distance will cause injury.

  • Adaptation: Over a period, the body gets accustomed to exercises at a given level. At this level, there is improved efficiency, effortlessness, and less muscle breakdown. This is the reason why running for the first time at a particular distance will cause tiredness. But once the body adapts, it becomes easier. Thus, changing to a higher intensity or longer duration of training will help in the improvement. The same principle is followed for doing a lesser amount of exercise.

  • Recovery: The body requires enough rest to recover once injured. The athlete should ensure that the body should not suffer from exhaustion or injuries. Hence, taking rest for hours in between multiple sessions and taking rest for weeks for longer sessions will be helpful for recovery. Motivated athletes will not follow this protocol. At the basic level of training, the body requires more sleep in spite of adaptations.

  • Reversibility: During the off-season, if the athlete fails to complete their routine exercise training like running five kilometers or bench pressing one hundred fifty pounds ten times, they will lose their ability to achieve their goal. This results in muscle atrophy (reduced in size), and cellular adaptations like increased blood flow to the muscles will get reversed. Hence, it is necessary for athletes to stay active during the off-season.

What Are the Principles of Soft Tissue Management?

Athletes who have sustained a sports injury are candidates for sports injury management. There are three components of sports injury management. They are- injury prevention, injury identification and treatment, and injury rehabilitation.

Injury Prevention:

  • Following warm-up procedures.

  • Wearing appropriate footwear.

  • Strapping the vulnerable joints.

  • Using the appropriate equipment.

  • Following the proper techniques.

  • Doing mild stretches after the physical activity.

  • Should gradually increase the intensity and duration of the training.

  • Should not exert beyond the level of fitness.

  • Should maintain fitness, especially in the off-season.

Injury Identification and Treatment:

Immediate Phase: The immediate management of soft tissue injuries in sports follows RICE and NO HARM protocols.

1. RICE Protocol: RICE stands for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation.

Rest: The first step is to remove the injured person from the field. One should take rest for a few weeks following injury, which is important because of it:

  • Reduces tissue damage.
  • Helps in the assessment of the injury.
  • Helps in decreased blood flow and faster recovery.

Ice: Ice compression for fifteen minutes five times a day for the first twenty-four to forty-eight hours after injury, which is important because it:

  • Helps to reduce swelling as ice compression decreases blood flow by constricting the blood vessel.
  • Decreases fluid leakage and thus reduces pain.

Compression: Compression with an elastic bandage or strapping is done for the first forty-eight to seventy-two hours. After that, the bandage should be slowly removed, which is important because:

  • External pressure helps in reducing fluid leakage and bleeding into the tissues.
  • Supports the injured site.
  • Helps in immobilization.

Elevation: Soon after the injury, it is important to elevate the injured site above the heart level, which is important because it:

  • Reduces bleeding.
  • Reduces swelling.

2. No HARM Protocol: NO HARM stands for No Heat, No Alcohol, No Running, and No Massage.

No Heat: Should not apply hot packs on the injured site. It is important because applying heat increases blood circulation and increases swelling.

No Alcohol: Should not consume alcohol until recovery. It is important because:

  • Alcohol consumption leads to thinning of blood and causes increased swelling.
  • Also, it increases toxin production in the injured site.

No Running: Running or doing any physical activity after an injury delays recovery. It is important because:

  • Running increases the pressure on the injured site and delays the healing.
  • Increases tissue damage.

No Massage: Should not massage or rub the injured site. It is important because:

  • Increases blood flow to the injured site and leads to swelling.
  • Increases tissue damage and results in delayed healing.

3. Later Phase:

  • Medications: Take painkillers to reduce pain.
  • Referral to the physician is necessary once after doing the first aid.

Injury Rehabilitation: Physiotherapy is helpful in rehabilitating the injured site. This includes exercises that promote strength and flexibility. Returning to physical activities, as per the physician's opinion, is appropriate.

Conclusion:

Athletes should follow all the sports principles in order to attain their goals. Combining missed sessions with single sessions is not possible for athletes as this will result in an overload of training. Athletes that develop injury must undergo sports injury management to avoid adverse complications.

Dr. Kaushal Bhavsar
Dr. Kaushal Bhavsar

Pulmonology (Asthma Doctors)

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