As an athlete, a sports injury is just one of the few things you shouldn’t gamble with as far as your career is concerned. The injuries have the potential of curtailing your growth or, worse off, killing your career altogether.

If you need help managing these setbacks by visiting a reputed sports injury clinic, Singapore is one of the first destinations you will most probably think about. Visiting a sports clinic in Singapore would reasonably be your best bet because of the reputation the facilities in this region enjoy.

How to Find the Best Sports Injury Clinic in Singapore

There are many types of sports injuries, and finding the best clinic for your injury may well be based on the type of injury you wish to treat. If, for example, you need help with ankle sprain injury, which is estimated to be responsible for around 2 million acute ankle injuries each year, it is prudent that you base your search on a facility with sports medicine specialists majoring on ankle sprain injuries.

Here are the exact pointers you may need to look into.

  • Experience

Working with an experienced sports injury specialist guarantees you that the practitioner has done training and completed education with a focus on therapeutic and medical aspects of physical activity. It also guarantees you that the practitioner has some experience in sports participation. The practitioner may be a surgeon or physician.

Finding an experienced injury specialist may not be a straightforward task, though. For many people, you will need to ask other athletes for references. You may also get a reference from your doctor or ask for references from local sports clubs or teams.

  • Qualifications

After getting the recommendations, you will shift your focus to the injury specialists’ qualifications. Note that there is no board certification when it comes to sports injury management.

However, there are subspecialty certifications that are given to accomplished board-certified orthopedic specialists in Singapore. The nonsurgical sports injury specialists usually have certificates of added accomplishments in the field of sports medicine. You may need to ask for such qualifications just to be sure that you’re working with the right persons.

  • Approach to Treating Sports Injury

It is worth noting that sports injuries aren’t the same. Usually, injuries vary on the severity of damage and the part of the body that suffered the injury.

 If you sustained a minor injury like mild strains and sprains, a good injury clinic would recommend home treatment using the PRICE therapy approach. PRICE here is an abbreviation for Protection, Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. Here’s a breakdown of how it works.

  • Protection: Your sports injury specialist will help you find the most viable way of protecting the injured area from further injuries. They can recommend using support items like bandages.
  • Rest: You’ll also be advised to keep off exercises that would actively engage the affected area. Notably, the orthopedic specialist would also recommend reducing the intensity of physical activities you engage in daily and using slings, walking sticks, or crutches if you cannot put weight on joints connected to the injured area.
  • Ice: Applying ice packs on the injured area for around 15 to 20 minutes two times each day would also help avoid inflammation and numb the pain.
  • Compression: For compression, the practitioner may recommend using elastic compression bandages to reduce the swelling.
  • Elevation: It is also good practice to maintain the injured area raised above your heart’s level. This will also be essential in reducing the swelling.

Your doctor may recommend surgical procedures for severe injuries, especially if the damage severely broke your bones such that you require corrective treatment. The doctor will give you an appropriate timeline for your rehabilitation to wait before resuming full or intense activities and exercises.

The recovery periods also vary between patients depending on the injury’s severity. Your sports injury clinic will help you work out a suitable recovery program and recommend the right amount of exercise to do.

  • Communication Quality

Good communication will help ensure that you avoid any mistakes that may slow down your recovery process. Because of that, you must also find a sports injury clinic in Singapore with a good communication structure and willing to respond accordingly to your information needs.

To confirm this, feel free to ask as many questions as you may think about your injury and the treatment program in the facility. The facility should welcome the questions and, most importantly, respond to them in more straightforward ways that you can easily understand. 

Ideally, the sports injury specialist who will be working with you should show a genuine interest in knowing you and getting to the root of the injury. They should also be willing to consider the treatment options you prefer and, most importantly, show that they value your decision-making process. 

Over to You

In Singapore, sports injury clinics are well known for the commitment and desire they put in helping athletes get back to their feet quickly and stronger. We work with a massive team of sports injury specialists who will be glad to go the extra mile to see you thrive. Email us today so we can help you set up an appointment as soon as possible.

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Injury Clinic