The sports medicine team at Quincy Medical Group provides comprehensive care for sprains, strains, and fractures. We help you learn about your injury and prevent it from occurring again in the future through proper exercises, conditioning and body mechanics.

Our goal is to return you to the game at full function. We provide personalized care to help you get back to activity as quickly and safely as possible.

What Is a Sprain?

Sprains are common sports injuries. They occur when a ligament (tissues that connect bones to other bones) gets stretched or torn because of a fall, twisting a joint or getting hit by another player.

Sprains can occur in any joint, but most commonly occur in your ankle or wrist. You may have a sprain if you have these symptoms in or around one of your joints:

  • Pain
  • Swelling
  • Bruising
  • Trouble moving the joint

With most sprains, you can treat it by giving it time to rest and heal. You may also ice the joint, wear a brace or wrap on the joint, and keep the joint elevated to reduce inflammation.

Our physical therapists and sports medicine physicians can help you manage the sprain, rebuild strength, and learn exercises to help prevent a sprain in the future.

What Is a Strain?

A strain occurs when a tendon (tissue that connects to muscles) or a muscle is stretched or torn. Strains can happen suddenly by twisting wrong or can occur over time as you put stress on the muscle. You can experience a strain in any muscle.
The symptoms of a strain are similar to a sprain, though they may not occur around a joint. Symptoms include:

  • Pain
  • Swelling
  • Trouble moving the muscle
  • Muscle spasms

Strains benefit from rest, icing, compression bandages and elevation. By working with our sports medicine team, you can build strength and prevent future injuries.
Our sports medicine team can also help you ensure that you rest an appropriate amount of time before continuing exercise. Resting too long can hurt your performance, while not resting long enough puts you at risk for a greater injury.

What Is a Fracture?

A fracture or broken bone can have many causes — from putting repeated stress on a bone to taking a hit from another player. The bone may have just a small fracture that takes little time to repair or may come completely apart, possibly requiring surgery and longer healing time.

You may have a fracture if you experience these symptoms:

  • Swelling, pain or tenderness around a specific area
  • Bruising around a specific area
  • A bone poking through the skin
  • A limb that looks deformed or bent

Your fracture treatment depends on the severity of your fracture. For minor fractures, you may not even need a cast.

For more severe fractures, you may have a more traditional cast to protect your bone. You may not be able to participate in sports until it heals.

If your bone has fractured into several pieces, shifted greatly or has poked through your skin, you will likely need surgery to repair the fracture. During surgery, our fellowship-trained orthopedic trauma surgeons may use screws and rods to hold the bones in place as they heal. After surgery, you will receive a cast to protect your bone.

Our physical therapist will work with you to teach you how to use crutches, wheelchairs or any other devices you need to move around with your fracture. They will also teach you exercises you can do as you heal to maintain muscle strength around your fracture.