Wound Management with Physical Modalities in Sports Medicine

Abstract

An often overlooked area of beneficial treatment in sports injuries is open wounds. With the increase in the overall prevalence of such infectious disease, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), as well as indications for improvement and access to treatment options, clinicians should consider the use of physical modalities [1]. Physical modalities are common devices in the sports medicine clinic, and although their uses are more well known in other areas of treatment, there is evidence in using such methods in accelerating wound healing in physical activity related injuries [2,3]. In a review by Foster et al. (1995) it was noted that despite the information on wound healing, superficial, there is little notation in certain parameters, to include frequency [4]. There continues to be an absence of literature on the specific parameters for common wounds in physical activity injury. Therefore it is important that this information be accessible to clinicians and the value of open sourced journals should not be underestimated. The purpose of this brief review is to provide an outline of commonly used modalities in sports medicine clinic as component wound management of physical activity related injuries or others common to the population.