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Four injuries that can happen after slipping on ice

Slipping on Ice

When it happens in a movie or an online video, slipping on ice can be very funny to many of us. The windmilling arms. The sliding feet. The crash to the ground. It all looks very comical. 

Yet things are a bit different when people slip on ice in real life. At the least, a person might develop a bruise where they hit the ground. In other cases, people can develop injuries that make many of their normal daily activities much harder. Unfortunately, about 4 in every 1,000 people will injure themselves slipping on some ice. Physical therapists can help you learn the types of injuries such a slip can cause. They can also help you find effective treatment for your injuries. 

Common injuries from slipping on ice

Skidding uncontrollably on a patch of ice isn’t just something that can happen in your car. It’s something that can happen to you when you’re walking, and it can lead to several common types of injuries. Some of these injuries include: 

  1. Wrist sprains — This injury often happens when people try to catch themselves. The impact of this action can overstretch wrist ligaments, which is synonymous with a sprain. 
  1. Rotator cuff injuries — Catching yourself on your hands when you slip can also injure your rotator cuff. The reason? The force of the fall travels through your arms and up into your shoulder. There it can overstretch or tear one of the rotator cuff muscles or tendons. Landing on your shoulder as you fall can also lead to these types of injuries. 
  1. Knee injuries — Sudden changes of direction are a hallmark of slipping on ice. Unfortunately, these directional changes are also a common source of knee injuries. For instance, they can overstress a knee ligament, such as the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), and cause it to tear. 
  1. Ankle sprains — Slips can also injure your ankles, especially if your foot gets caught and your ankle rolls inward. This movement can lead to injured ankle soft tissue and outer ankle pain. 

How can physical therapists help with these injuries?

A physical therapist can help you in many ways after you injure yourself slipping on ice. They can assess the painful area or areas to determine what injuries you’ve sustained. These specialists can also build you a targeted treatment plan to help ease your symptoms and speed up healing. A few of the techniques that may be included in such a plan include: 

  • Therapeutic exercises.
  • Dry needling. 
  • Soft tissue mobilization. 
  • Joint mobilization. 

Find help for your injuries after slipping on ice at Franklin Rehab

Have you recently slipped on some ice and injured yourself? Our team at Franklin Rehabilitation is sorry to hear it, and we’re keen to help you address your injury. We can start by doing a free screening to determine exactly what injury you have. Then, our physical therapists can construct a personalized treatment plan to address your specific injury and meet your recovery goals. 

Contact our team today for more information about how we can treat your injury or to schedule your initial appointment with us.