Team Sports Accessories

Author-Becky P.

Fall is synonymous with team sports, football, volleyball, soccer and cross country. All of these have their unique sports medicine concerns. When preparing for games I find it important to have the right accessories to take care of all of their needs. For all sports I carry a sturdy weatherproof bag filled with tape, pre-wrap, a variety of bandages, padding, splints, elastic wraps and scissors. It seems the bag gets heavier each year as I add some new gadgets and emergency equipment most of which goes unused. Honestly my most common injuries can be taken care of with simple pre-wrap and tape. I have come to find elastic tape that adheres to itself to be my newest favorite. It comes in a variety of colors (used for years in the vet industry) and widths. The great thing about this tape is that it doesn’t stick to skin and it is waterproof so you can quickly cover a wound and it won’t bleed through. This is important because this day and age with all of the concerns over blood borne pathogens a player cannot continue to play with blood showing, it must be covered. The tape provides steady pressure to stop bleeding and expands and contracts with the muscles making it comfortable enough to continue to play. I also carry saline solution in a spray container for cleaning wounds and surprisingly enough it cleans blood off uniforms quite well.
Besides minor cuts and abrasions my most commonly seen injury is a sprained ankle. This can be a debilitating injury for an athlete. My best advice for a newly sprained ankle is covered with a common acronym RICE. Rest, ice, compression, and elevation. If you have “rolled”, “twisted”, or “messed up” your ankle, you probably have a sprain. The sooner you can get ice on the ankle the better. The best way to ice it is to immerse the whole foot and ankle up to mid shin in a bucket or trash can full of ice water. This is painful for the first 5 minutes but then the toes go numb and it becomes tolerable. Visit any of the best athletic training facilities in the nation and you will see this in action. Do this for 20 minutes at a time. After icing wrap the ankle with an elastic bandage to control swelling and stay off of it for the next 24 hours or so. Make sure the wrap is not cutting off circulation (if the toes feet tingly or numb after it warms up). See a doctor if you have excessive swelling, pain over the fibula (bone on the outside of the ankle), deformity, or cannot bear weight at all. Stick with ice only for 3 days, NO HEAT. Heat increases bleeding and swelling. It will be fairly normal to begin to see bruising around the ankle and toes; gravity does this. The more you elevate during the first three days the faster the swelling will go down. After the swelling decreases and the athlete can walk fairly normal, you can begin to strengthen the ankle with toe raises or exercises with elastic tubing or therabands. Returning to play should happen when the athlete can balance on the injured ankle, jump and land on two feet without favoring the ankle, hop on the injured ankle, and cut from side to side while running. If the athlete cannot do all of these it is not safe to return to play. Most ankle sprains can be prevented with a good quality ankle brace. This is an accessory that many coaches of team sports are requiring. It may be the best investment you make besides good quality shoes for your young athlete.