When you play sports, you’re constantly at risk of sustaining an injury. But like all types of injuries, not all sports injuries are the same. A scrape on the knee and a dislocated shoulder are drastically different issues that require different treatments. The same goes for acute and chronic sports injuries.
While both acute and chronic sports injuries require the right care, it’s important to learn about the key differences between them. By learning about what separates an acute from a chronic sports injury, you can gain a better idea about what they feel like and the best way to approach treatment.
Defining the differences between chronic and acute sports injuries
Let’s start with the basics. The word “acute” means severe or sudden, while “chronic” means persistent or recurring. In a medical sense, an acute injury or condition comes on suddenly from trauma. A chronic injury develops gradually over time, often due to overuse.
The onset duration is the main difference between acute and chronic sports injuries. Here are a few of the other key differences:
- Pain — Acute injuries often cause severe, sharp pain. Pain associated with a chronic injury may be referred to as a dull ache that worsens with movement.
- Visible symptoms — A chronic sports injury often won’t have visible symptoms, while acute injuries tend to cause dislocations or deformities.
- Reduced movement — A chronic injury tends to cause swelling that interferes with the area’s muscles’ and joints’ ability to move comfortably. An acute injury can cause a reduced range of motion of the joint, along with muscle weakness.
Examples of acute versus chronic sports injuries
If you’re unsure what qualifies as an acute or chronic sports injury, here are a few examples that may help:
Acute sports injury examples:
- Collision with another player
- Getting hit with a ball
- Sprained ankle
Chronic sports injury examples:
- Stress fracture
- Shin splint
- Tendinitis
Border Therapy Services can help treat both acute and chronic sports injuries
Whether you’ve had an unexpected accident while playing a sport or you’ve put excessive strain on your muscles over time, we can help you alleviate your symptoms and get back in the game.
Common physical therapy treatments like manual therapy, targeted exercises and other modalities can help both acute and chronic sports injuries. However, the approach for each might be different. For example, a person with an acute sports injury, like a dislocated shoulder, can’t go through the same exercises that a person with a muscle strain can.
At Border Therapy Services, we’ll create a personalized treatment plan specifically for your sports injury to ensure that it’s treated as safely and effectively as possible.
Call us or request an appointment today for treatment for acute or chronic sports injuries.