Weekend warriors keep sports medicine specialists busy

BOULDER – Sports medicine specialists in the Boulder Valley don’t have an off season.

 “The population in Colorado, particularly in Boulder, is active all year,´ said Dr. John Tobey, a doctor in the emerging field of physiatry, a form of rehabilitative medicine.

Tobey’s practice, Boulder-based Spine West, specializes in nonsurgical orthopedics and deals with diagnosing injuries. He sees repetitive strain injuries – affecting mostly the knees and shoulders – all the time. Instead of skiing and snowboarding being the cause, at this time of year it is sports like running, cycling, tennis and baseball.

Weekend warriors are a mainstay, and during the summer they are noted for undertaking gardening and landscaping projects resulting in neck and back strains. Debbie McKrola, owner of Back To Action Physical Therapy in Lafayette, said some of these injuries could be avoided if people would pace themselves appropriately, building up the workload more gradually instead of setting aside a weekend and expecting the project to be completed by Sunday evening.

She also sees injuries resulting from falls from ladders.

“It’s not a normal position for people,” McKrola said, explaining how people lose their balance.

Family reunions are fun but not without their dangers. Those calls to join in the volleyball game can result in injury for those not normally active.

Whether the injury is chronic or acute, Tobey recommends RICE – rest, ice, compression and elevation – as the immediate treatment.

“The sooner the better,” Tobey said. “Especially icing and elevating to get any swelling down.”

An anti-inflammatory, such as Aleve or ibuprofen, can also help, and Tobey said taking a wait-and-see approach before seeking medical attention is acceptable.

If there has been a trauma, such as a crash or fall, which could mean a broken bone, Tobey recommended seeking medical treatment as soon as possible. While most back pain will get better on its own, any pain that’s travelling down the neck or arms, or numbness in an arm or leg, needs examination by a physician.

Bob Cranny, owner of Altitude Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine in Longmont, said with back injuries, most people will notice their back stiffening soon after they’ve stopped the activity. That is when it’s time to lie on your stomach, apply ice and take some ibuprofen. Cranny advised against applying any heat.

“It does feel good at the time, but from a healing perspective it’s the worst thing,” he said. “It can make the inflammation worse.”

However, the next day a warm shower will help, and you need to be moving around. Bed rest is not the answer. A gentle massage to increase blood flow to the injured area can also be helpful, but Cranny cautions to avoid deep-tissue massage, which can sometimes aggravate an injury.

Cranny said a growing number of insurance carriers now allow direct access to physical therapists and don’t require a referral from a primary care physician. While the change is driven by cost-management concerns, it is good news for clients. The sooner you can start treatment, the faster the healing process.

While physical therapists like Cranny and McKrola are treating the specific injury, they like to look at the full picture. That can mean discussing proper equipment like whether those worn out, comfy running shoes are truly giving you enough support or if the weight of your tennis racquet was the root cause of your injury. It can also mean reviewing the proper technique for bending and lifting, which are essential to pain-free gardening.

For repetitive-use injuries, McKrola looks at the athlete’s technique and suggests modifications to avoid future strains. Sometimes that means a visit to the driving range or the swimming pool to see the athlete in action. Reviewing an athlete’s training routine may also be part of the discussion.

Proper warm up before any exercise is important.

“It’s important to get to good blood flow to the muscles,” McKrola said. “It can enhance performance.”

She will work with her clients to design specific stretches for their chosen activity so they can optimize their time. Cranny will recommend specific strengthening exercises. For example, gardeners should take a break every hour, stand up with hands on hips and do some backward bends to counter the forward bending position most gardening requires.

A good physical therapist will listen to your goals and get you on a path to speedy recovery.

“To tell an athlete not to run or a gardener not to garden is devastating,” Cranny said. “My goal is to get them back to doing their activity.”

Cranny and McKrola said repeat customers are not something they like to see.

on Facebook on LinkedIn