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Injury Prevention for Weekend Warriors
If you're a weekend warrior, you might face some injuries from your activities. Dr. John Murphy, Sports Medicine Doctor with UPMC Orthopaedic Specialists of Central PA, discusses injury prevention for weekend warriors.
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Dr. Murphy has experience working with athletes in a variety of sports such as football, wrestling, basketball, as well as working with marathon runners and ballet dancers. Prior to joining UPMC Pinnacle, he was the team physician for various major universities and high school sports teams. He has an interest in preventative medicine and new technology associated with non-operative treatment of musculoskeletal injuries.
Learn more about John Murphy, DO
John Murphy, DO
Dr. Murphy received a Doctorate of Osteopathic Medicine from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and a Bachelor of Science in exercise science from the University of Scranton. He completed his residency in family medicine at Penn State Health St. Joseph in Reading, and a primary care sports medicine fellowship at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC).Dr. Murphy has experience working with athletes in a variety of sports such as football, wrestling, basketball, as well as working with marathon runners and ballet dancers. Prior to joining UPMC Pinnacle, he was the team physician for various major universities and high school sports teams. He has an interest in preventative medicine and new technology associated with non-operative treatment of musculoskeletal injuries.
Learn more about John Murphy, DO
Transcription:
Bill Klaproth (Host): From ankle sprains to hamstring strains, from shin splints to slipped discs, nonprofessional athletes face a variety of common injuries. And here to talk about injury prevention for weekend warriors is Dr. John Murphy, a Sports Medicine Specialist at UPMC Pinnacle.
This is Healthier YOU, a podcast from UPMC Pinnacle. I’m Bill Klaproth. Dr. Murphy, let’s start here. What weekend warrior type of injuries do you treat most often?
John Murphy, DO (Guest): Most often, weekend warrior injuries are going to be typically foot or ankle but anything from knees to hips to shoulders, wrists, elbows and any joint in the body, really.
Host: So, a lot of the body, we’re prone to injuries in those spots. So, why are we prone to these types of injuries?
Dr. Murphy: Well a lot of it comes down to the fact that weekend warriors are often those individuals who may not be kind of set up to doing as much or as kind of repetitive or motions and activities as they are currently trying to do. So, it’s going to be someone who didn’t maybe play sports in high school or college and is now trying to get more active and doesn’t have that kind of background and education on what they’re doing and how much they should be doing.
Host: So, we need to watch out for these repetitive motions that our bodies just aren’t used to basically, is that right?
Dr. Murphy: Yeah, I mean when it comes to injuries, I like to characterize them from kind of an acute injury. An example of that is someone falls and breaks their wrist. So, that’s an acute fracture. Then you have something like a chronic overuse injury and that’s something like a stress fracture. So, they have a repetitive overloading, overloading, overloading and then eventually, that bone weakens enough where they develop a fracture, but it is not an acute or sudden fracture.
Host: Well that’s good to remember. Acute versus chronic. Acute you fall down, you break your wrist, obviously you are off to the doctor because you are in pain and the swelling. For these chronic type of injuries that may be more nagging in nature; at what point do you say you know what, now it’s time I need to see the doctor?
Dr. Murphy: Oh yeah, I mean it generally if it’s not improving with rest after a day or two of rest, obviously not if you are sore from exercise because you are not used to doing it, you are going to have delayed onset muscle soreness and achiness that is normal to have happen. But if it’s persisting and painful with activities of daily living, walking, doing your laundry, doing dishes and you’re having pain with those things; then definitely it’s time to go see someone and get it evaluated.
Host: So, if it’s interfering with your daily activities, that’s a real sign there’s a problem and you should seek medical attention.
Dr. Murphy: Yeah, just to make sure that there’s nothing that should be done about that injury per se or even possibly a way to prevent further injury that may be kind of underlying without you even realizing it.
Host: Oh, that’s a good point too. So, if you don’t seek medical attention, you just try to I’m going to tough it out, right? Some guys, I’m just going to fight through it. I mean you could wind up injuring it even more then.
Dr. Murphy: Oh absolutely. I mean, this is not a quote of mine, but I do like it, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” by Ben Franklin. Right? I mean there’s a lot of truth to that and I’m not saying that because it gets people in the door. But because I mean if you can prevent an issue from occurring, it saves a lot of time. I mean if you can avoid surgery because you are doing something to strengthen a muscle or a tendon; then why not do it.
Host: All right so, perfect segue, let’s talk about that ounce of prevention. What is the best way to prevent these types of injuries?
Dr. Murphy: So, let’s pick something specific to really hone in on then. When I was referring to the stress injuries, stress reactions to the bones of that fracture earlier, you can also have that with tendons and ligaments as well. We call it tendinopathy or tendinosis. And it’s different from a tendon tearing like if you acutely tear your Achilles. But if you have Achilles tendinosis or tendinopathy or tendonitis as we often call it; there’s various factors that can contribute to having that. So, certain people who have flat feet or be bowlegged, those we call them intrinsic factors. So, those factors are thing that you can’t necessarily change but you can identify them, me in the office, identifying them and maybe getting you an orthotic for your foot or getting you some type of exercise regimen or to a physical therapist to get you improving specific muscles to counterbalance what God gave you anatomically.
Host: So, that’s the ultimate form of prevention, understanding where the injury may occur before it happens. And then if it does, you were talking about tendonitis and things like that as we were talking about earlier, always good to go see the doctor sooner rather than later.
Dr. Murphy: Yeah, there just may be something that can be done. There’s lots of different treatment options for various ailments as far as tendonitis is concerned. But there may be ways and easier ways to treat it if you kind of get it early, get in there, get evaluated before it becomes something that would require more of an invasive procedure to fix it.
Host: So, let’s talk more about treatment. Some injuries, people can treat on their own using the RICE method, right, rest, ice, compression, elevation that can be helpful in certain circumstances?
Dr. Murphy: Yeah, absolutely.
Host: And then when someone does come to you, how do you typically diagnose these types of weekend warrior injuries?
Dr. Murphy: So, oftentimes, whenever you come into an orthopedic office, we first get an x-ray, just to make sure there is nothing wrong with the bone or there’s no tiny avulsion or a pulling of a tendon or ligament off of a bone that could be causing that issue. Sometimes you can see little flecks of bone within the tendon as your body has what we call calcific tendonitis where you kind of try to repair it yourself and you repair yourself by laying down harder and harder and harder structure and that ends up being calcium and bony. But other ways of doing it is through physical exam through the history that the patient is explaining and discussing with you and I use ultrasound a lot in the office too, so you can identify and see a lot of these things on ultrasound as well.
And certainly things that you can’t see on the x-ray, you can see on the ultrasound. For example, somebody comes in with plantar fasciitis or Achilles tendonitis of the ankle. They are having pain for months, maybe just weeks and they point to where it hurts, it’s right over the Achilles, I can take the ultrasound probe, place it right over the Achilles and I can see we call neovascularization or hyperemia which means blood flow within an area that it shouldn’t be. So, that blood flow there tells me that it has been a chronic issue and they have underlying tendinosis of that Achilles tendon. Plus I can look at the thickness and compare it side to side and it really does help hone in on a diagnosis and figure out what’s wrong and what we can do about it.
Host: So, when you say figure out what’s wrong and what to do about it; you’ll then prescribe a treatment plan, is that the general procedure?
Dr. Murphy: Yes, frequently, I prescribe physical therapy as part of the treatment plan.
Host: So, earlier, you were talking about intrinsic and extrinsic factors when it comes to injury prevention. Can you go a little bit deeper on that and explain that a little bit more when it comes to injury prevention for weekend warriors?
Dr. Murphy: Everyone is a little bit different because flexibility, strength, your own neuromuscular control of your body is really important. Those are all intrinsic factors that I would identify in a physical exam. Extrinsic factors like I said, these are all factors that could be changed or kind of looked at and identified are going to be things like the equipment you are using. So, if you are runner; making sure you are not using your shoes for 600 miles. And you should be changing them out every 200 to 400 miles. That it’s an appropriate shoe and appropriate equipment for you. So, there’s a lot of factors to look at but I would say generally speaking, if you ever want to kind of get just an overall general look and make sure there is nothing wrong, you can obviously just come in for a visit or you can even use direct access care with physical therapists and get in to see them and have them go over an entire kind of overview of all your biomechanics and motion and they can identify issues and things to work on.
Host: So, understand where you are tight, where you are weak. We all have flexibility issues so really try to understand that first.
Dr. Murphy: Exactly. Because flexibility issues along can basically cause somebody to develop issues chronically over time.
Host: So, that helps you understand what muscles to build up and what ligaments to stretch before you walk out on the court.
Dr. Murphy: Yes, but at the same time, it isn’t always a guarantee. I mean you have things that may kind of come on over time but there are certainly a lot of things that can be prevented and can be kind of identified before they truly become painful which is typically what brings people in is pain.
Host: Really useful information Dr. Murphy and I know there’s a lot of people that want to stay active as they age. So, podcasts like this will help them do that more successfully. Thank you so much for the information and the education today. we appreciate it.
Dr. Murphy: You’re very welcome. Thank you for having me.
Host: That’s Dr. John Murphy, a Sports Medicine Specialist at UPMC Pinnacle. And for more information call 717-735-1972, 717-735-1972 or visit www.upmcpinnacle.com/sportsmed. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels. And check out the full podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is Healthier YOU, a podcast from UPMC Pinnacle. I’m Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening.
Bill Klaproth (Host): From ankle sprains to hamstring strains, from shin splints to slipped discs, nonprofessional athletes face a variety of common injuries. And here to talk about injury prevention for weekend warriors is Dr. John Murphy, a Sports Medicine Specialist at UPMC Pinnacle.
This is Healthier YOU, a podcast from UPMC Pinnacle. I’m Bill Klaproth. Dr. Murphy, let’s start here. What weekend warrior type of injuries do you treat most often?
John Murphy, DO (Guest): Most often, weekend warrior injuries are going to be typically foot or ankle but anything from knees to hips to shoulders, wrists, elbows and any joint in the body, really.
Host: So, a lot of the body, we’re prone to injuries in those spots. So, why are we prone to these types of injuries?
Dr. Murphy: Well a lot of it comes down to the fact that weekend warriors are often those individuals who may not be kind of set up to doing as much or as kind of repetitive or motions and activities as they are currently trying to do. So, it’s going to be someone who didn’t maybe play sports in high school or college and is now trying to get more active and doesn’t have that kind of background and education on what they’re doing and how much they should be doing.
Host: So, we need to watch out for these repetitive motions that our bodies just aren’t used to basically, is that right?
Dr. Murphy: Yeah, I mean when it comes to injuries, I like to characterize them from kind of an acute injury. An example of that is someone falls and breaks their wrist. So, that’s an acute fracture. Then you have something like a chronic overuse injury and that’s something like a stress fracture. So, they have a repetitive overloading, overloading, overloading and then eventually, that bone weakens enough where they develop a fracture, but it is not an acute or sudden fracture.
Host: Well that’s good to remember. Acute versus chronic. Acute you fall down, you break your wrist, obviously you are off to the doctor because you are in pain and the swelling. For these chronic type of injuries that may be more nagging in nature; at what point do you say you know what, now it’s time I need to see the doctor?
Dr. Murphy: Oh yeah, I mean it generally if it’s not improving with rest after a day or two of rest, obviously not if you are sore from exercise because you are not used to doing it, you are going to have delayed onset muscle soreness and achiness that is normal to have happen. But if it’s persisting and painful with activities of daily living, walking, doing your laundry, doing dishes and you’re having pain with those things; then definitely it’s time to go see someone and get it evaluated.
Host: So, if it’s interfering with your daily activities, that’s a real sign there’s a problem and you should seek medical attention.
Dr. Murphy: Yeah, just to make sure that there’s nothing that should be done about that injury per se or even possibly a way to prevent further injury that may be kind of underlying without you even realizing it.
Host: Oh, that’s a good point too. So, if you don’t seek medical attention, you just try to I’m going to tough it out, right? Some guys, I’m just going to fight through it. I mean you could wind up injuring it even more then.
Dr. Murphy: Oh absolutely. I mean, this is not a quote of mine, but I do like it, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” by Ben Franklin. Right? I mean there’s a lot of truth to that and I’m not saying that because it gets people in the door. But because I mean if you can prevent an issue from occurring, it saves a lot of time. I mean if you can avoid surgery because you are doing something to strengthen a muscle or a tendon; then why not do it.
Host: All right so, perfect segue, let’s talk about that ounce of prevention. What is the best way to prevent these types of injuries?
Dr. Murphy: So, let’s pick something specific to really hone in on then. When I was referring to the stress injuries, stress reactions to the bones of that fracture earlier, you can also have that with tendons and ligaments as well. We call it tendinopathy or tendinosis. And it’s different from a tendon tearing like if you acutely tear your Achilles. But if you have Achilles tendinosis or tendinopathy or tendonitis as we often call it; there’s various factors that can contribute to having that. So, certain people who have flat feet or be bowlegged, those we call them intrinsic factors. So, those factors are thing that you can’t necessarily change but you can identify them, me in the office, identifying them and maybe getting you an orthotic for your foot or getting you some type of exercise regimen or to a physical therapist to get you improving specific muscles to counterbalance what God gave you anatomically.
Host: So, that’s the ultimate form of prevention, understanding where the injury may occur before it happens. And then if it does, you were talking about tendonitis and things like that as we were talking about earlier, always good to go see the doctor sooner rather than later.
Dr. Murphy: Yeah, there just may be something that can be done. There’s lots of different treatment options for various ailments as far as tendonitis is concerned. But there may be ways and easier ways to treat it if you kind of get it early, get in there, get evaluated before it becomes something that would require more of an invasive procedure to fix it.
Host: So, let’s talk more about treatment. Some injuries, people can treat on their own using the RICE method, right, rest, ice, compression, elevation that can be helpful in certain circumstances?
Dr. Murphy: Yeah, absolutely.
Host: And then when someone does come to you, how do you typically diagnose these types of weekend warrior injuries?
Dr. Murphy: So, oftentimes, whenever you come into an orthopedic office, we first get an x-ray, just to make sure there is nothing wrong with the bone or there’s no tiny avulsion or a pulling of a tendon or ligament off of a bone that could be causing that issue. Sometimes you can see little flecks of bone within the tendon as your body has what we call calcific tendonitis where you kind of try to repair it yourself and you repair yourself by laying down harder and harder and harder structure and that ends up being calcium and bony. But other ways of doing it is through physical exam through the history that the patient is explaining and discussing with you and I use ultrasound a lot in the office too, so you can identify and see a lot of these things on ultrasound as well.
And certainly things that you can’t see on the x-ray, you can see on the ultrasound. For example, somebody comes in with plantar fasciitis or Achilles tendonitis of the ankle. They are having pain for months, maybe just weeks and they point to where it hurts, it’s right over the Achilles, I can take the ultrasound probe, place it right over the Achilles and I can see we call neovascularization or hyperemia which means blood flow within an area that it shouldn’t be. So, that blood flow there tells me that it has been a chronic issue and they have underlying tendinosis of that Achilles tendon. Plus I can look at the thickness and compare it side to side and it really does help hone in on a diagnosis and figure out what’s wrong and what we can do about it.
Host: So, when you say figure out what’s wrong and what to do about it; you’ll then prescribe a treatment plan, is that the general procedure?
Dr. Murphy: Yes, frequently, I prescribe physical therapy as part of the treatment plan.
Host: So, earlier, you were talking about intrinsic and extrinsic factors when it comes to injury prevention. Can you go a little bit deeper on that and explain that a little bit more when it comes to injury prevention for weekend warriors?
Dr. Murphy: Everyone is a little bit different because flexibility, strength, your own neuromuscular control of your body is really important. Those are all intrinsic factors that I would identify in a physical exam. Extrinsic factors like I said, these are all factors that could be changed or kind of looked at and identified are going to be things like the equipment you are using. So, if you are runner; making sure you are not using your shoes for 600 miles. And you should be changing them out every 200 to 400 miles. That it’s an appropriate shoe and appropriate equipment for you. So, there’s a lot of factors to look at but I would say generally speaking, if you ever want to kind of get just an overall general look and make sure there is nothing wrong, you can obviously just come in for a visit or you can even use direct access care with physical therapists and get in to see them and have them go over an entire kind of overview of all your biomechanics and motion and they can identify issues and things to work on.
Host: So, understand where you are tight, where you are weak. We all have flexibility issues so really try to understand that first.
Dr. Murphy: Exactly. Because flexibility issues along can basically cause somebody to develop issues chronically over time.
Host: So, that helps you understand what muscles to build up and what ligaments to stretch before you walk out on the court.
Dr. Murphy: Yes, but at the same time, it isn’t always a guarantee. I mean you have things that may kind of come on over time but there are certainly a lot of things that can be prevented and can be kind of identified before they truly become painful which is typically what brings people in is pain.
Host: Really useful information Dr. Murphy and I know there’s a lot of people that want to stay active as they age. So, podcasts like this will help them do that more successfully. Thank you so much for the information and the education today. we appreciate it.
Dr. Murphy: You’re very welcome. Thank you for having me.
Host: That’s Dr. John Murphy, a Sports Medicine Specialist at UPMC Pinnacle. And for more information call 717-735-1972, 717-735-1972 or visit www.upmcpinnacle.com/sportsmed. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels. And check out the full podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is Healthier YOU, a podcast from UPMC Pinnacle. I’m Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening.