Sports Medicine Heals Ballplayers and Writers

What do writing and baseball have in common? For one thing, they are two of Mark’s favorite things in the world. For another, they can both lead to devastating hand injuries. And finally, both writers and baseball players can find relief through the burgeoning field of sports medicine.

You read that right: sports medicine specialists don’t treat just athletes. The team doctor for the Detroit Tigers treats the front office manager with the same therapeutic techniques typically reserved for sports medicine. The more you do any one kind of activity, the more likely you are to incur an injury that’s best treated by a professional who sees those kinds of repetitive motion problems on a daily basis in the sports medicine field.

The Sport of Writing

As you sit in front of your computer screen, writing your latest blog, creating your daily social media post or composing an important press release or industry piece, you may begin to feel a cramp in your hand. Your wrist may feel tight and you suddenly realize that it’s painful to straighten your fingers.

You may remember hearing on the news that morning that your favorite baseball player will have to sit out the first week of spring training because he’s having difficulty straightening his fingers. He’s been sidelined at baseball camp because of the cramping he’s experiencing from gripping the ball or bat too tight for too many practice hours. Could your malady and his be related?

Curse of the Metatarsal

Pain and cramping in your hands is a common work-related injury that sports medicine professionals see on a regular basis. Some of the symptoms sports medicine specialists find are shared by both desk jockeys and sports athletes, including:

• General feeling of weariness and weakness
• Knuckle pain and swelling
• Tingling sensations or pins and needles
• Slight numbness
• Stiffness in fingers and wrist
• Sharp or dull ache
• Pain in the joints or muscles
• Cramping

Symptoms usually occur from repetitive motions involving your hands. It’s those fine motor skills — such as playing a musical instrument, keyboarding, holding a pen or throwing a baseball for hours — that can lead to the painful hand symptoms. And while you may never run the bases or even venture to a ball field except to sit in the stands, you can find relief at the same sports medicine clinic as the players.

Common Sports Medicine Treatments

You receive the same kind of treatment as your favorite ballplayer, such as:

• Physical therapy
• TENS
• R.I.C.E. (rest, ice, compression, elevation)
• Immobilization
• Anti-inflammatory medications
• Splints

Writers’ cramp and injuries incurred at baseball camp usually don’t require surgical intervention, but you can’t rule it out completely, especially if the repetitive use has resulted in a torn ligament or fracture. The best advice at this point is to do everything you can to prevent writers’ cramp. You’ll feel so much better writing about the opening season game in your next blog if you practice a little foresight and:

• Invest in ergonomic desk equipment
• Take regular breaks, like 15 minutes every hour
• Relax when you’re typing
• Hold a pen lightly when you’re handwriting or taking notes
• Maintain proper posture when writing
• Remember your posture even when you’re on a mobile device
• Visit a sports medicine specialist at the first signs of strain
• Reduce stress by meditating, giving yourself sufficient time to meet deadlines or calling on experts (like Ray Access) to do your writing for you

---

Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.