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Sprains, strains and other sports injuries: the signs, home care (R-I-C-E), when to see a provider, treatment, and getting back to activity
For anyone who twisted an ankle, pulled a muscle or took a fall, anyone whose elbow, knee or shoulder hurts from doing the same motion over and over, at play or at work, and parents of young athletes. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS, part of the NIH) says sports injuries are not limited to athletes: factory workers get tennis elbow, painters get shoulder injuries, and gardeners get tendinitis. Many can be treated at home with rest, ice, compression and elevation (R-I-C-E); some need a provider. This page passes on, by name, what NIAMS says: the signs of a sudden injury and an overuse injury, the kinds of injury and who gets them, the signs that mean you should be seen, R-I-C-E, treatment for serious injuries, and getting back to activity. It builds the words to say to a provider, and prints a card for the visit.
Right now
- Someone may have hurt the head, neck or back and is confused, passed out, or has numbness or weakness: call 911 and do not move them (ours).
- A bone came through the skin, a bone or joint looks out of place, the area below the injury is numb, cold, pale or blue, or you cannot put any weight on it: go to an emergency room now (ours). NIAMS says open fractures are especially serious because of the risk of infection, and that a dislocated joint typically needs immediate medical treatment.
- Stop the activity that hurts. NIAMS says not to try to “work through” the pain of an injury: keeping on may cause more harm.
- Thinking about suicide: call or text 988, any time.
More help
- Related: Broken bones · Head injury and concussion · Back pain · Arthritis · Osteoporosis · Juvenile arthritis · Pain, bones and joints.
- Day to day: Symptom diary · Medicines list · Pain that lasts.
- Care and costs: When you need a doctor and can’t pay · When medicine costs too much · Get ready for the appointment.
- In a crisis: Help right now (988, 911). All our free tools.
Pain, a bone or a joint, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for back pain, arthritis, pain that lasts, headaches, broken bones and sickle cell, on one list.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor, nurse or therapist has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 15, 2026 on NIAMS’s Sports Injuries page, both parts: Overview, Symptoms, & Causes and Diagnosis, Treatment, & Steps to Take (NIH, last reviewed September 2024), and on its Spanish twin, Lesiones deportivas (December 2024). Ours: calling 911 and not moving someone who may have hurt the head, neck or back and is confused, passed out, or has numbness or weakness; going to an emergency room now when a bone came through the skin, a bone or joint looks out of place, the area below is numb, cold, pale or blue, or no weight can be put on it; having a provider see a growing child’s pain near a joint; asking a pharmacist whether an over-the-counter anti-inflammatory is safe for you; not stopping a prescribed antibiotic on your own, and calling about tendon pain; writing down what happened; asking what a test, cast, brace or surgery would change, its risks and what it costs; 988; and the order of the steps. What we left out: any medicine’s name or dose, injections, taping, any treatment NIAMS does not name, any supplement, device, remedy or product, return-to-play timelines, and NIAMS’s research pages. This page saves nothing and loads no trackers.