Sports Injuries

Recovery is not just about the injured tissue.

Sports injuries range from acute sprains and strains to chronic overuse conditions, stress fractures, tendinopathies and post-surgical rehabilitation. The common thread across all of them is that the injury itself is rarely the whole story — how the body was loading before the injury, and how it compensates after, determines whether recovery is complete or whether the problem becomes recurring.

Getting back to sport as quickly as possible matters. So does making sure the body that returns is more resilient than the one that got injured.

Why injuries recur

The most reliable predictor of a sports injury is a previous injury to the same area. This isn't just about incomplete tissue healing — it's about the compensation patterns, altered motor control and movement habits that develop after injury and are rarely fully addressed in standard rehabilitation. The ankle sprain that keeps rolling. The hamstring that keeps straining. These patterns have a mechanical explanation, and they're addressable.

Neurological factors are also significant. Injury changes how the nervous system perceives and controls the affected region. Proprioception — the body's sense of position and movement — is consistently disrupted after musculoskeletal injury and needs to be specifically rehabilitated, not just assumed to recover on its own.

How Dr Chase approaches it

Assessment goes beyond the injured structure to understand what contributed to the injury and what the body is doing to protect it. This includes looking at movement patterns, joint mechanics, muscle activation and the neurological components of control and proprioception.

Treatment draws from joint mobilisation, myofascial release, lymphatic drainage (particularly useful in the acute and subacute phases to manage swelling and support tissue healing), and progressive rehabilitation guidance. The aim is not just tissue recovery — it's restoring the movement quality, load tolerance and confidence that allows full return to activity.

Whether you're dealing with a recent injury or a chronic problem that's been limiting your training, a thorough assessment is the starting point for getting back to doing what you want to do.