Sports Medicine uses Vacuum Pumps to Stabilize and Heal
Would you believe that watching your favorite sports team may require vacuum? It's true! Vacuum plays an important role in many aspects of sports medicine from triage, to physical therapy, to sports massage.
Using Vacuum Pumps to Triage Injuries
A serious sports injury during a game or match is a tricky thing to manage. Medics have to quickly assess the athlete on the field and then safely get them to a hospital for treatment. Stabilizing an injury like a broken bone is incredibly important before the player can be moved and transported. This is where vacuum comes in.
The fastest and most portable way to stabilize an injury is to use a rapid-form vacuum splint immobilizer. The splint is applied, and then vacuum is used to provide enough pressure to stabilize both bone breaks and dislocations.
When vacuum is applied, plastic beads in the splint bag conform to the exact shape of the injured area, instantly creating a solid and rigid splint. This splint protects the area as the athlete is transported for additional care.
The rapid-form vacuum immobilizer also has the unique advantage of controlling the amount of pressure around the area to ensure circulation doesn’t get cut off to the injury site, which could cause more damage down the line.
Vacuum for Healing and Physical Therapy
Splinting isn’t the end of the road for vacuum in sports medicine. Vacuum pumps likewise can play a key role in the healing process. One example is a vacuum-sealing drain that can treat soft tissue injuries which surround traumatic fractures. These can result in faster healing, lower infection rates, and fewer complications, and are more comfortable than other drain alternatives.
In cases of just injury without infection, vacuum-compression therapy alternates between positive and negative pressure to improve blood flow and tissue oxygenation in the injured area, speeding up the healing process.
Cupping: a Traditional Chinese Remedy
An athlete doesn’t need to be injured to use vacuum-based therapies. Professional athletes and weekend warriors alike can benefit from vacuum in the form of cupping. A form of traditional Chinese medicine, cupping uses suction to remove air from the inside of the cup to seal it to the skin. Cupping loosens muscle adhesions and increases blood flow to the area where it is applied. Cupping can be used both in advance of athletic events and as a therapy afterward.
Athletes report benefits including reduced aches and pains, shortened recovery time from intense exertion, as well as faster healing after an injury. Vacuum cupping can also release tension which can even prevent injuries when muscles are worked too hard.
V for Victory
Many aspects of an athlete’s success from training to healing can be improved with the help of vacuum. So give us a V! Give us an A! Give us a C! Give us double Us (not Ws)! Give us an M! What does that spell? Vacuum, Vacuum, Vacuum!
Sources:
https://www.physio-pedia.com/Vacuum_Compression_Therapy
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8438004/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29318167/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9536898
https://www.cramersportsmed.com/rapid-form-vacuum-immobilizer
https://www.scsportstherapy.com/blog/how-cupping-can-benefit-athletes/