Sprains, strains and “knots”

Ever twist or roll your ankle? Just about everyone out there has at one time or another. This is very common form of sprain.

In the short-term (48-72 hrs after), we will dispel the hot vs. cold confusion and aquaint you with your new best friend the Icepack, not the hot-tub. And massage, yes massage, is indicated even during this early stage with certain considerations: generally on-site treatment is avoided initially, and even orthopaedic testing may be inconclusive and false-positive testing is common. This is usually due to the pain and guarding factors at an early stage of injury. Despite this we can get a grasp of the scope of damage that has occurred, work gingerly around the injury, control the swelling, apply ice, ultrasound, laser, interferential current, tens all in an effort to provide relief but not interfere with the early healing process. And this is key: knowing what to do and when to do it is what maximizes overall recovery – from the onset of injury to retraining the neural pathways to return your proprioception and strength and mobility effectively. In other words, regaining your pre-injury state.

Importantly, specific massage techniques are applied as scar tissue forms to ensure excessive, chronic adhesions do not play havoc in the months and even years after injury. Chronic, unattended to scar-tissue can be treated, but it is like curing cement, the longer you wait the harder it becomes. If you’ve been told your muscles or soft-tissue is fibrous, this is the same thing. And in many cases it is secondary to an old injury that was not effectively rehabilitated. We see a lot of this.