Acute Sports Trauma Triage

Acute sports trauma, the ankle rolled in a Saturday morning match, the hamstring that pulled at the sixty-minute mark, the shoulder that dislocated in a rugby tackle, requires immediate, accurate assessment and management. The quality of care in the first 24 to 48 hours after a sports injury has a direct and significant effect on the length and quality of the subsequent recovery. Swelling that is not controlled in the acute phase becomes fibrosis. A diagnosis that is wrong at the start generates a treatment programme that is wrong throughout.

At this practice, acute sports trauma triage means same-day or next-day appointments for acute presentations, a thorough assessment that establishes the nature and severity of the injury, appropriate acute management using current evidence-based protocols, a realistic prognosis, and an immediate referral pathway for injuries that require imaging or specialist orthopaedic assessment. Knowing when to treat and when to refer is as important as knowing how to treat.