Teens, Sports Injuries and Concussion
Growing stronger, moving better:
Cotlew St. Osteopathy – your teen's ally in health and performance.
Osteopathy offers tailored treatments for teenage health issues, including scoliosis, postural problems, sports injuries, and post-concussion symptoms, aiming to improve mobility, reduce pain, and support overall well-being during this crucial growth period.
Why Osteopathy
Osteopathy is a healthcare practice that is hands on. We use movement of the body focusing on joints, muscles, nerves, lymphatics and circulation to help improve the underlying function of the area. When mobility and function improve, quite often there is a reduction in inflammation and pain.
We can start to feel better. It’s a different way of addressing discomfort and pain without the use of drugs. Australian Osteopaths are university trained, government registered, allied health professionals.
Osteo For Teens, Sports Injuries and Concussion
Teenage bodies generally undergo periods of rapid growth and hormonal change. It is a time when scoliosis can present itself and when sporting injuries including concussion can increase. Scoliosis is a change in the direction of the spinal curves (a sideways curvature) that can increase strain and load on the spine and adjacent muscles.
It will generally show up at the beginning of puberty. Depending on the severity, an x-ray may be requested to measure and determine the curves magnitude. Osteopathic treatment along with exercises may help with reducing progression and treating spinal pain and respiratory dysfunction.
Another common postural pattern that arises amongst teenagers is from sitting at school or on the computer with rolled shoulders and a forward head posture. This can commonly be seen as pain arising between the shoulder blades, neck and as headaches. Simple strategies to help retrain the posture and treatment to help reduce strain in the shoulders and neck go a long way to relieving this discomfort.
Management of teens sporting injuries including broken bones, sprained ligaments or pulled muscles can be initially about first principles of ice and heat, rest and elevation. Most commonly in clinic it’s about the rehabilitation of movement. Getting a fluid stride again, full range of motion and a return to sporting activities. Osteopathic treatment and specific exercises may help to achieve optimum progression in returning to sport and in minimizing pain.
Understanding the severity of concussion injuries and the long-term effects are still yet to be fully understood. Concussion is a traumatic brain injury and is caused by a force to the head directly or from anywhere in the body that then transmits a force to the head. Full contact sports engaged by teenagers can easily put them at risk of concussion. There is an assessment tool available (SCATS) to help identify signs and symptoms. Osteopathy is in a unique position of being able to improve mobility, circulation and lymphatic drainage to the head and neck as a treatment approach to helping some headaches and some post-concussion symptoms. Each case is unique and needs to be discussed with Victoria to see if Osteopathy may be of benefit.
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