Being injured on the playing field can leave you sidelined as you wait for your body to heal, but you may be able to speed the healing process through sports injury treatment. A medical professional can help you decide which treatment will likely work the best for you so that you can experience the most promising results. Any of these five sports injury rehab treatments may be used as part of your care plan to help you get back in the game.

Self Care Options

Sports injuries can sometimes be healed with simple treatments at home, however, it's still advisable to visit a medical professional for an examination to determine the extent of your injury. Even if you believe that your sports injury isn't too serious, there still could be underlying damage to tissues, bones, or other bodily structures that could worsen and make getting back in the game more difficult for you without the proper care from a professional. Some of the most common self-care treatments for sports injuries include:

• Applying ice and/or heat to the affected area
• Applying gentle compression to the affected area
• Resting and minimizing physical activity
• Keeping the injured part of the body elevated
• Performing safe stretches to avoid stiffening
• Wearing a brace

Chiropractic Care

A chiropractor or another medical professional who knows chiropractic treatment techniques can try a variety of methods to elicit faster healing and improve mobility of the injured area. Traction, stretching and even massage therapy are some of the techniques that many chiropractors use to treat patients. You may also be prescribed special exercises to perform to help strengthen and heal the injured part of your body without causing further injury.

Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy

This cutting-edge treatment is performed by taking blood from a person to create a platelet-rich plasma in a special machine. The platelet-rich plasma is then injected into the injured part of the body to promote tissue, joint, and cartilage repair. PRP therapy can also work well to reduce pain from the injury.

Corticosteroid Injections

If your sports injury is the result of a tendon being strained from repetitive use, a corticosteroid injection may offer you relief. These injections are sometimes used to treat tendonitis that can develop from athletes using tendons in their elbows, ankles, or other parts of their body frequently. A corticosteroid injection can alleviate inflammation that's caused by tendonitis and help reduce pain and improve mobility so that you'll be able to return to your physical activities.

Acupuncture

As squeamish as some people are around needles, many sports injury sufferers have found relief with acupuncture. A professional who knows how to perform acupuncture correctly can insert small needles lightly into the skin to help an injury heal by increasing certain energy flows throughout the body. You'll likely feel relaxed without any pain during your treatment.

No matter the extent of your sports injury, there are treatment options that will likely give you the results that you need to return to play. Consulting with a medical professional about your treatment options can help you get on the faster road to recovery.