Sports Injuries Don’t Have to End Your Season: How We Keep Holland Athletes Moving

Last Updated: June 29, 2026

It usually happens at the worst possible time. You roll your ankle in a pickleball game, your shoulder starts barking three weeks into tennis season, or your kid limps off the soccer field favoring a knee. Summer in Holland means rec leagues, travel ball, running, cycling, golf, pickleball, and long days at the lake — a lot of bodies asking a lot of their joints.

Here’s the good news most people don’t hear: a summer sports injury almost never has to end your season. The large majority respond to conservative, non-surgical care, and with the right plan you can often keep doing some version of what you love while you recover. The trick is acting early instead of “toughing it out” until a small problem becomes a big one — and, as it turns out, rethinking some of the first-aid advice many of us grew up with.

What Counts as a Summer Sports Injury?

A sports injury is simply damage to muscle, bone, or soft tissue during physical activity — sprains, strains, tendinitis, contusions, concussions, and the occasional fracture (Cleveland Clinic). For weekend warriors and busy parents around Holland, the usual suspects are predictable: ankle sprains from quick direction changes, knee injuries from jumping and pivoting, shoulder and elbow overuse from swinging a racquet or golf club, shin splints from pounding harder summer surfaces, and low back pain from doing more than your spine has trained for.

Most of these fall into two buckets, and the difference matters:

That second bucket is bigger than most people realize, especially for young athletes. The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that about half of all youth sports injuries are overuse injuries (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2024). They build quietly over weeks — which is exactly why they get ignored until they sideline someone.

Why “Playing Through It” Backfires

There’s a deep-rooted belief in sports that pain is just part of the game and you push through. Sometimes that’s fine. Often it’s how a minor strain turns into a months-long problem.

When you favor an injured area, your body compensates — and that compensation has a cost. Limp on a sore ankle and your hip, knee, and low back start picking up the slack. Guard a cranky shoulder and your neck and upper back take over. A stuck or guarded joint forces the joints around it to do extra work, those muscles fatigue, and pretty soon the whole chain is unhappy. Caught early, most sports injuries are straightforward. Left to fester, they get complicated, and the time and cost to set them right only grow. At McAlpine Chiropractic in Holland, MI, we tell our patients this simple rule of thumb: if something isn’t settling down on its own in three days, don’t keep ignoring it.

Should You Ice It? Why the First-Aid Advice Has Changed

Here’s the question we field in the clinic almost every week: “Should I ice it?” For decades the answer was an automatic yes. The science has moved — and the story of how is genuinely surprising.

Where “RICE” came from. The familiar RICE method — Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation — was coined back in 1978 by a physician named Dr. Gabe Mirkin, in his best-selling Sportsmedicine Book. It caught on everywhere and became the go-to first-aid advice for a generation of coaches, trainers, parents, and athletes.

Even the man who invented it changed his mind. Years later, Dr. Mirkin did something you rarely see: he publicly revisited his own advice. In an article titled “Why Ice Delays Recovery,” he wrote that “now it appears that both Ice and complete Rest may delay healing, instead of helping,” and that there is “no reason to apply ice more than six hours after you have injured yourself.” That’s the inventor of RICE walking back two of its four letters.

Why the thinking shifted: inflammation is part of healing. The reasoning is that inflammation isn’t the enemy — it’s the body’s first step in repair. When you injure tissue, your body sends in blood and immune cells that clear away damage and switch on healing. The concern is that aggressively shutting that process down — with prolonged icing or round-the-clock anti-inflammatories — may slow the rebuild. Of course it’s worth being honest about the evidence here: a lot of it comes from laboratory studies in animals, and the human research is still mixed and evolving. So this is best understood as an important shift in thinking, not a settled fact — but it’s a shift the sports-medicine and physical-therapy worlds have largely embraced.

What the guidance looks like now: PEACE & LOVE. That rethink has a name. A widely cited 2020 framework from sports physiotherapists — memorably called PEACE & LOVE — has largely replaced the old RICE checklist in sports medicine, PT and sports chiropractic (Dubois & Esculier, British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2020).

In the first day or two,

PEACE:
Protect the injured area,
Elevate it,
Avoid anti-inflammatory overuse,
Compress to manage swelling, and get
Education about your injury (don’t rely on passive therapies).

After that, LOVE:

Load the tissue gradually,
Optimism – injuries happen so don’t get down on yourself,
Vascularization – restore blood flow through pain-free movement/cardio,
Exercise – prioritize balance, strength and mobility.

Notice what’s missing from the whole list: ice is no longer a step of its own.

What we tell patients in Holland. Our approach lines up with where the evidence has landed. In the first few hours after a fresh injury, a little ice is perfectly fine — for comfort and pain relief, not because it speeds healing. After that early window, the goal flips: we want to promote blood flow and gentle movement, because that circulation is what carries the oxygen and nutrients healing tissue actually needs. Protect it early, then get it moving (safely) — that’s the heart of modern recovery, and it’s exactly the “V” and “L” in PEACE & LOVE.

A quick word on anti-inflammatory pills. The same PEACE & LOVE framework suggests going easy on routine anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs like ibuprofen) in the early days, for the same reason — inflammation is doing a job. In fairness, our read on the human evidence that they meaningfully slow healing is mixed and is not confirmed — a large 2024 review of fracture healing, for example, found no clear effect once the data were adjusted. So for sports injuries in our clinic, we treat this as a sensible precaution, not a hard rule. Our take: don’t lose sleep over it, literally. If the pain is genuinely affecting your sleep then don’t feel bad about popping an ibuprofen or two. We just don’t think it’s wise to lean on anti-inflammatories as your recovery plan. Of course, this is general education and our take, not medical advice; talk to your own physician or pharmacist before starting or stopping any medication, especially with a fracture, recent surgery, or stomach, kidney, or heart concerns.

So… should you ever ice? Sure — for short-term pain relief in those first hours, ice is a reasonable comfort tool. What’s changed is the move away from days of icing and total rest as the recovery strategy. The body heals through circulation and movement, not by being shut down. None of this means ignore a real injury — it means treat it smarter.

When to Stop Guessing and Get It Checked

Some signs mean it’s time to stop self-managing and get evaluated. According to the Cleveland Clinic, see a provider if you have:

• Severe pain that isn’t getting better
• Extreme bleeding, bruising, or swelling
• An obvious deformity — bones or a joint that look out of place
• You can’t move or use the injured part

And a few symptoms are genuinely urgent: numbness, tingling, or weakness shooting down an arm or leg, or pain after a hard hit to the head. Those deserve same-day medical attention, not a wait-and-see.

How We Keep Holland Athletes Moving

Here’s the part that keeps a lot of athletes away: the fear that getting help means being benched for the season or pushed straight toward surgery. That’s not how conservative care works. The goal at McAlpine Chiropractic is to find why it hurts, fix the mechanics behind it, and get you back to your sport as safely and quickly as the injury allows.

Depending on what we find, that can include:

• Chiropractic adjustments to restore proper motion to joints that are stuck or moving poorly — so the rest of the kinetic chain stops compensating.
• Class IV laser therapy to support tissue recovery and circulation, which can be especially helpful for overuse injuries like tendinitis.
• Non-surgical spinal decompression when a sport-related disc or low-back issue is in play — it gently creates negative pressure in the disc space to take pressure off the nerve.

You can see the full picture of how we approach athletic injuries on our sports injury treatment page, and if a sport is aggravating your low back specifically, our back pain treatment page goes deeper there.

Just as important: we don’t work in a silo. We work alongside your athletic trainer, physical therapist, and physician. Chiropractic care, rehab, and medical care are complementary tools — the point is getting you the right one at the right time. If something needs imaging, an orthopaedic opinion, or a dedicated strengthening program, we’ll say so and point you to people we trust.

“The biggest mistake I see with athletes is them pushing through the pain after an injury occurs. This can injure an already injured area and become a serious injury that ends their season. Athletes, parents and coaches shouldn’t wait until the injury forces them out. Catch them early, get the joint moving the right way, and most people can keep training in some form while they heal — and that’s usually what keeps them in their season.” — Phillip Maletta, DC

Returning to Play the Smart Way

Recovery timelines depend on the injury. A mild ankle sprain may settle in four to six weeks, while a shoulder or knee issue can take several months of rehab. The mistake is letting “the pain stopped” be your only green light to full send it in a game.

Sports-medicine guidance is clear that return-to-play should be based on objective criteria — strength symmetry, single-leg stability, and clean sport-specific movement — with a graduated return rather than an all-at-once jump. That lowers your risk of re-injuring the same spot and losing even more of your season.

For younger athletes, prevention is its own return-to-play strategy. The AAP recommends not increasing weekly training load by more than 10–20% at a time, keeping at least 2–3 months off per year from any single sport, and varying activities rather than specializing too early — all of which cut overuse risk (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2024).

Frequently Asked Questions About Summer Sports Injuries

Should I ice a sports injury or not?

Ice is fine for short-term pain relief in the first few hours after a fresh injury — but the modern thinking has moved away from days of icing as a way to heal faster. Even Dr. Gabe Mirkin, who coined the RICE method in 1978, later wrote that “both Ice and complete Rest may delay healing.” Newer sports-medicine guidance (the PEACE & LOVE framework) leaves ice off the list and emphasizes protecting the area early, then restoring movement and blood flow. Use ice for comfort if you want it; don’t rely on it as your recovery plan.

What are the most common summer sports injuries?

The usual ones are ankle sprains, knee injuries (ligament or meniscus), shoulder and elbow overuse from racquet sports and golf, shin splints, and low back pain. Summer adds a few risk factors — more activity, harder outdoor surfaces, and not enough warm-up after the off-season (Cleveland Clinic).

Should I play through the pain or rest?

A little soreness is normal; sharp, worsening, or radiating pain is not. For a fresh, mild injury, protect it and avoid aggravating it for a day or two — then start gentle, pain-free movement rather than long stretches of complete rest. Pain that’s getting worse, changing how you move, or shooting down a limb is your cue to get it checked rather than push through.

When should I see someone about a sports injury instead of treating it at home?

The Cleveland Clinic advises getting evaluated for severe pain that isn’t improving, extreme bruising or swelling, an obvious deformity, or being unable to move or use the injured part. Numbness, weakness, or tingling down an arm or leg — or any head impact — should be seen the same day.

How long does it take to recover from a sports injury?

It depends on the injury. A mild ankle sprain may resolve in about four to six weeks, while shoulder or knee injuries can take several months of rehab. Returning by objective criteria — strength, stability, and clean movement — rather than by pain alone helps prevent re-injury.

Can a chiropractor help with a sports injury?

Yes — for many sports injuries, chiropractic care is a reasonable part of a conservative plan. We use adjustments to restore joint motion, Class IV laser therapy to support recovery, and non-surgical spinal decompression for sport-related disc issues, working alongside your trainer, PT, and physician as needed. You can learn more on our sports injury treatment page.

Ready to Get Back in the Game?

Ben De Young, Ann McAlpine, and Phillip Maletta — all DC — treat athletes of every age throughout Holland, Zeeland, and West Michigan, from travel-ball families to weekend golfers and runners. Whether you’re nursing a fresh injury or trying to stay ahead of an overuse problem before it sidelines you this summer, we’ll find the cause and build a plan around your season.

Don’t let a summer sports injury bench you. Call us at 616-392-7031 or book online to schedule your evaluation. Our office is at 500 West 17th Street, Holland, MI 49423.

Sources:
– Gabe Mirkin, MD, “Why Ice Delays Recovery,” drmirkin.com (2014; advice revised ~2015) — the originator of RICE revisiting his own advice: “now it appears that both Ice and complete Rest may delay healing, instead of helping” and “no reason to apply ice more than six hours after you have injured yourself.” Quotes confirmed verbatim across multiple independent reproductions (drmirkin.com’s own page currently serves an expired security certificate). https://drmirkin.com/fitness/why-ice-delays-recovery.html
– Dubois B, Esculier J-F, “Soft-tissue injuries simply need PEACE and LOVE,” British Journal of Sports Medicine 2020;54(2):72–73 — the modern PEACE & LOVE framework that replaced RICE; expert editorial, notes ice’s benefit is “mostly analgesic.” https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/54/2/72
– van den Bekerom MPJ, et al., “What Is the Evidence for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation Therapy in the Treatment of Ankle Sprains in Adults?” Journal of Athletic Training 2012;47(4):435–443 — human review; insufficient high-quality evidence that RICE changes outcomes.
– Takagi R, et al., Journal of Applied Physiology 2011 — animal (rat) study; icing delayed muscle regeneration. Cited to show the mechanism is largely animal-based, not established in humans.
– Chuang P-Y, et al., “Do NSAIDs affect bone healing rate, delay union, or cause non-union: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis,” Frontiers in Endocrinology 2024 (20 studies, >500,000 patients) — found no statistically significant difference in non-union between NSAID users and non-users after adjustment (OR 1.11; 95% CI 0.99–1.23). Supports treating NSAID-and-healing concerns as precautionary rather than settled. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11420001/
– Cleveland Clinic, “Sports Injuries” — common types, acute vs. overuse, when to seek care — https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22093-sports-injuries
– American Academy of Pediatrics / HealthyChildren.org, “Preventing Overuse Injuries in Young Athletes” (2024) — ~50% of youth sports injuries are overuse; 10–20% weekly load rule; 2–3 months off per year — https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/injuries-emergencies/sports-injuries/Pages/Preventing-Overuse-Injuries.aspx

Written and medically reviewed by Phillip Maletta, DC, McAlpine Chiropractic — Holland, MI.