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Injury
management by Gary Turner
Injuries are any sportsman’s
nightmare. They prevent you from training and can end a fight prematurely.
It’s therefore very important to know how to handle injuries. I’m not a
doctor, so I will leave specific treatments and medical terms well alone, and
discuss the management of the injury instead, both during training and during a
fight. Firstly, if you are unsure of an injury
you have sustained, then get it checked out by a professional. In my experience
this is not necessarily your GP. GP’s are what their title says – General
Practitioners. They are not necessarily specialists in the field of sports
injuries, and therefore will often tell you just to rest an injury, which is
often the worst thing to do. Soft tissue injuries require the appropriate
rehabilitation and recovery, which is not normally total rest. Also, they may
not have the appropriate knowledge of such things as referred pain – where
there is pain in one place actually caused by an injury elsewhere. My suggestion
is to source a good Chartered physiotherapist, and let an expert in soft tissue
injuries find out what the injury is, treat the injury, and give you
rehabilitation to recover and strengthen the damaged area. The injuries that you can sustain from
kickboxing cover the whole body. They could be soft tissue injuries such as
pulls, tears, strains, cuts, bruising and abrasions. They could be skeletal,
with bone injuries such as breaks, fractures and bruising. There also could be
damage to the brain – every time you get hit your brain rattles around the
skull, causing bruising and damaging cells. The most important injuries to consider
are those to the head. Concussion can be a common complaint, and is often not
managed properly. Many times I have seen fighters have a really tough fight, or
take a hard hit in training, and then go out drinking afterwards. Alcohol thins
the blood and will make any bruising worse. Do you really want to take a risk
with your brain? If you get a heavy knock to the head lay off the drink for a
couple of weeks. Don’t spar or compete for a couple of weeks. If headaches
occur, vision gets blurred, or you feel nauseas or suffer memory loss get
yourself to the hospital – better to be safe than sorry. From experience I know that appropriate
first aid can prevent soft tissue injuries becoming worse. Remember the rule –
P.R.I.C.E. – Protect, Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. For cuts, apply
pressure straight away. Get on an appropriate first aid course and learn how to
treat yourself and others. Soft tissue injuries should be managed
to prevent them getting worse. Don’t take the chance of training hard on them,
as this is a false economy. My suggestion is to concentrate on proper recovery,
and don’t expect the injured area to have its previous ability straight away.
Take your time. If a fighter receives a cut during
training, it is important that it is given the proper attention immediately.
Apply hard pressure with a clean cloth to stem the blood. If this is done
immediately with the correct pressure you can limit the extent of the injury. A
cut is obviously an open wound, and therefore may be susceptible to injury.
Check it out at a hospital, and if necessary allow them to glue or stitch. If you sustain a cut during competition
your approach will be different. A good referee will inspect and monitor any
cuts, allowing the doctor to inspect and give opinion if necessary. Remember,
the referee is there to look after you, so if he pulls you out, don’t show
dissent. During the rounds protect the cut with your guard, preventing further
splitting. In the corner the seconds should do everything they can to limit the
damage to the cut. They should clean the wound, apply pressure to stem the blood
and prevent swelling, and then clog it with Vaseline to try and keep the blood
out of your eyes. If swelling occurs during training apply
the described first aid immediately. A ‘tubigrip’ or flexible bandage will
help prevent swelling increasing. If it occurs during a fight, then again
protect the affected area during the round, and allow your corner to work on it
in between. If the swelling is around the eye socket an opponent’s strike
could tear the stretched skin over the top to form a cut. It’s important to
attend to the swelling to prevent the cut, or restrict vision. The corner will
iron out the cut, often with a cold curved metal roller, spreading the swelling
over a wider area but reducing the chances of a cut. Although this practice can
lead to some spectacular black eyes, it’s far better to have a shiner than a
cut!
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