On arrival to the session, I was made aware of any injuries that the players had, so I would be able to treat them appropriately. The only injury that occurred during the session was a possible ankle sprain on the lateral side. I observed that the players foot was in inversion while a team member stepped on his foot, so this explains the mechanism of injury. The participant immediately dropped to the floor in pain, clutching the ankle. Me and the other Sports Therapist went over to the player and did a quick assessment as he was on pitch side. We took his shoe and sock off and immediately saw swelling on the lateral side of the ankle, but no bruising which indicates there was no further damage. However, if bruising was present you would expect it to be underneath the swelling, not directly over the injury. It was important to test range of movement (ROM) of the ankle including plantarflexion and dorsiflexion. Plantarflexion was limited, however there was no movement during dorsiflexion. As there was swelling around the lateral side of the ankle I applied ice to the area. The clinical application of cryotherapy is recommended for inflammatory conditions, such as swelling and acute localised pain, which the client had (Lubkowska, 2012). The physiological changes to the effects of cryotherapy are thought to be temperature dependent (White & Wells, 2013). Therefore, the ice was applied for fifteen minutes to prevent the hunting response from occurring. The cooling results in heat loss and the treated body area experiences vasoconstriction (Lubkowska, 2012). Once the ice had been applied, we assisted the player while he tried to stand up. Immediately the player felt dizzy possibly from shock. We then sat the participant down again, while supporting him and brought his legs closer to his body. After 30 minutes he could still not put any weight on his left foot so we gave him some crutches, that we got from the clinic, to assist in supporting his weight.

Areas for further improvement

My first area for further improvement would be to increase my knowledge of pitch side management, by researching possible scenarios that could occur and how best to overcome them. Another aspect of this would be to learn about the types of injuries that occur regularly in basketball, so that I have the vital skills and techniques to best deal with the injury. It is also important to have an emergency action plan in place so treatment can be as effective as possible. Finally, I believe that I need to be more confident in my ability within pitch side management and first aid, so I can get the most out of my placement hours.

Things to remember:

1. Always try to take the players shoes and socks off (if it is an ankle injury) to see if there is any swelling/bruising
2. If the client has injured the ankle and is unable to walk more than 4 steps, it is important to advise them to go to A&E
3. If there is swelling use ice to decrease oedema

References 

Lubkowska, A. (2012). Cryotherapy: physiological considerations and applications to physical therapy. In Physical Therapy Perspectives in the 21st Century-Challenges and Possibilities. IntechOpen.

White, G. E., & Wells, G. D. (2013). Cold-water immersion and other forms of cryotherapy: Physiological changes potentially affecting recovery from high-intensity exercise. Extreme Physiology and Medicine, 2(1), 2-11.