How Long Should Swelling Last After A Sports Injury?

Swelling Is Your Body Telling You An Injury Has Occurred. But When Should You Expect To See It Improve?

Hey, it's Arkash, head physio at Align Motion Physio Merrylands.

Today I'm going to talk about a subject many find confusing, sports injuries and their treatment.

By the end of this post, you'll be able to spot a minor injury from something more serious and be better placed to apply the appropriate treatment to get you back on the pitch sooner!

What we'll cover

What swelling is and why it's important.

Minor injury symptoms.

Major injury symptoms.

Sports injury treatment and rehab.

Let's get into it!

Our bodies are the most enormous city you can imagine. But instead of buildings, roads, bridges and streets, we consist of millions upon millions of cells and an insanely intricate network of veins, nerves, tendons, and muscles. That all come together in a logic-defying and miraculous combination that allows us to crawl, walk, run, and sprint on demand. 

Within this sprawling metropolis, our Brain is the Fire Station. Inside, there are thousands of firefighters on red alert, waiting for the next emergency that will inevitably arrive as part of our everyday lives.

And when the time comes, they don't hang around. 

As soon as you injure your body, its reaction comes in the form of swelling. This is the firefighters arriving on the scene, but there is one key difference in your body. Instead of 'putting out the fire' your Brain actually signals the team to send more heat towards it to stimulate blood flow and accelerate healing!

Swelling is usually the first visible indication an injury has taken place. It may be accompanied by some discomfort and your immediate reaction may be to get rid of it as quickly as possible and get back on the pitch. 

But like I say above, it's important to know that swelling is not a bad thing. It is the body’s response to trauma in an area and it will typically go away on its own. However, there are instances when swelling on a sports injury becomes a problem if it remains there for too long.

This brings the question, “how long should swelling last on a sports injury?” 

To address this question we will look at the minor and major end of the scale.

Minor Injury

Because swelling on an injury is a collection of healing fluid that accumulates in a specific area, it is important that your body has the chance to treat itself. So, an acute injury should be left mostly alone for the first 12 - 48 hours. If the swelling subsides wihtin this time, you probably have no lasting damage, and only suffered a minor injury. Phew!

Major Injury 

In the case of a major sports injury, such as a torn ligament in your knee, the swelling can last for weeks and the body can go on overdrive and swell too much. This can cause muscle or connective tissue weakness and stop you from returning to sport! 

What If My Swelling Doesn't Go Away?

W?hen swelling stays for more than 48 hours, that’s when it really begins to be a problem because now, it’s not that emergency response anymore, your body now needs 3 things to happen:

Increase blood flow to the area.

Loosen the affected area.

Enable the area to regain strength.

The problem with swelling is that if it doesn’t go away, your pain, joint stiffness, and soreness will stay. Moreover, it could even get worse. Also, when a swelling takes too long to go away it restricts blood flow to that area thereby limiting the flow of nutrients the area needs to heal.

So, if 2 days have passed and the swelling is still there, what do you do? 

First, you need to get a good evaluation and assessment of what is happening in that area and that is where an expert physiotherapist comes in. A qualified professional will figure out what is causing the symptoms that you’re having, the root cause of the swelling itself, and what needs to be done to get it under control.

Physiotherapists offer a natural treatment for swelling so as to decrease your pain and get you back on the pitch in the last time possible!

There are several rehabs for sports injury that gives a plan of action and a variety of natural treatments for your swelling.