Sports injuries

We provide high quality physiotherapy, osteopathy and sports massage treatments for your sports injuries and strains.

Your therapist will both treat your injury, and advise you on how much to rest or use the affected area to avoid re-injury.

Sports massage is helpful in bringing your muscles to peak condition for a special event and to relieve stiffness in the muscles, if it occurs after a sports activity.

Sports injuries - treatment in London, North London, Enfield

 

Our team of professional and experienced physiotherapists, osteopaths and sports massage therapists regularly help people recover from a wide range of sporting injuries in people of all ages and abilities.

Whether you play football or golf, tennis, go running or cycling – we have a team of qualified therapists to help get you back to your sport as soon as possible. Not only do we aim to return you to your previous form, or better, but we also advise you on how to avoid re-injury.

Some of the sports injuries we regularly treat include:

 

• Tennis elbow
• Golfers elbow
• Wrist sprain
• Muscle strains and tendinitis of the forearm and wrist
• Shoulder impingement and rotator cuff injuries
• Back pain
• Neck pain
• Hip problems
• Hamstring strains (see below)
• Quadriceps strains (see below)
• Calf muscle strain (see below)
• Achilles tendinitis (see below)
• Knee pain and injuries
• Plantar fasciitis (see below)
• Persistent pains and injuries, and bony bruising (see below)

Sports injuries we treat

 

Muscle strains in the leg – hamstrings, quadriceps and calf muscles

 

Sports activities may sometimes strain the muscles in the front of the thigh (quadriceps), the back of the thigh (hamstrings), or the calf muscles. You may have pain, bruising or swelling and find it uncomfortable when walking or doing sports. The muscles in the injured area are usually tender to touch.

When you see one of our physiotherapists or osteopaths, they will carefully check the problem and will be able to assess the level of injury and advise on appropriate exercises and treatment.

With the right treatment approach and the right level of activity and rest these muscle and tendon problems usually settle very well, and you should return just as fit and strong as before the injury to your sporting activities. Massage is particularly useful in these conditions, along with ultrasound and taping.

Achilles Tendinitis

This is a common condition where the tendon at the back of the ankle becomes painful and sometimes swells. It is frequently found in runners and footballers. The area affected may be in the tendon itself or at the bony point behind the ankle.

To get you back to your sport as fast as possible physiotherapists and osteopaths will advise you on specialised exercises to encourage a fast recovery, as well as hands on treatments and frequently ultrasound to soothe the inflammation. Sometimes we also use acupuncture which may also be effective.

Plantar fasciitis

Characterised by pain under the heel, which is especially noticeable in the mornings and on first walking after sitting, plantar fasciitis can be a frustrating condition for sports enthusiasts as it can last many months.

Often this condition relates to other factors such as flat feet and weak muscles in the legs and feet which can predispose you to this problem. Our physiotherapists and osteopaths make a careful assessment of these potential causes of plantar fasciitis to assist with a quicker recovery. Our therapists use a mix of taping, exercises, massage, ultrasound, acupuncture and shoe inserts to help clear this condition up.

Persistent pain and bony bruising

Some patients come in to the Clinic frustrated with their slow recovery from a sports injury and their inability to get back to sports and other activities. This may be due to:

• Returning to sport before your muscles are back to full strength, co-ordination and flexibility
• Scar tissues have formed (adhesions) which can be cleared with treatment
• Bony bruising has occurred – a common situation with many ligament injuries and other sports injuries – which results in pain and swelling when returning to higher intensity sports such as running

Our therapists are trained to recognise and treat all these problems and will provide reassurance and expert guidance to assist your successful return to sport.

Which treatments at the Oakwood Physiotherapy Clinic would help?

When you contact us we will advise you on the best person to see; we have a team of therapists and may recommend a particular therapist who is specialised in treating your condition.

You can call us and speak to a member of staff on: 020 8440 3629, or on our second line: 020 8440 6318, or email us at info@oakwoodphysio.co.uk.

Chartered Physiotherapy and Osteopathy for sports injuries

At Oakwood Physiotherapy Clinic, we commonly treat many different types of sports injury and are well-placed to help you with any issues you may be having.

Our physiotherapists and osteopaths will firstly carefully assess your problem, and then treat these conditions with a variety of treatments which include:

• Massage and manipulation
• Taping
• Advice on splints or supports
• Electrotherapy such as ultrasound treatment for tendon and ligament problems and “Curapulse” (pulsed electro-magnetic therapy) for bony bruising
• Individually prescribed progressive exercise and therapeutic loading programmes
• Advice on rest and activity levels
• Acupuncture
• Heat and ice treatments
• Posture correction

During treatment we aim to find the cause of your pain, whether it was overuse, an injury, or poor sports technique, to ensure you remain pain-free in the long term.

How many treatments will I need?

Following your initial assessment, your physiotherapist or osteopath will let you know how many treatments you are likely to need to recover.

If you have had your sports injury for under 6 weeks, it usually takes between 2 and 6 treatments to settle.

If you are older, or had frequent pain episodes, a longer course of treatment may be required.

After treatment, patients may return to the clinic for a maintenance or top-up treatment to help keep them pain free, as well as seeing our trained massage therapists. They often remark how this keeps them healthy, pain free and able to stay active.

Can I come for sports injury treatment without seeing my GP?

Yes, you can have treatment without seeing your GP, and will be completely safe in doing so, as our therapists are fully qualified and are able to recognise serious conditions that may require further investigation by your GP.