Who should be in the first-aid kit?

When working with both youth and adult sports teams, the medical bag and its composition are important. A physiotherapist in sports teams often performs the role of both a physiotherapist and a “doctor”. With teams to often have to go to games as well and not do without a medical bag there. A medical bag is the most important thing that needs to be prepared, in the hope that it will not have to be used. In this blog post We will share our experience and recommendations on what should then be in the medical bag. This blog post is intended to be a recommendation only, and perhaps the composition of your medical bag should be adapted to the needs of a particular sport.

The medical bag clearly needs to have a first-aid kit to be able to treat the most common sports injuries. The contents of the medical bag must also correspond to the specific sport, since the typically acquired injuries vary from sport to sport. For example, in football, it often happens to fall and bruise the knees, dislocate and sprain the ankles. The cycling team, on the other hand, may face problems and overloaded, tightened muscles. Therefore, the set of the medical bag must meet the requirements of the sport.

Basically, the contents of the medical bag must be such that you can successfully treat any problem that arises, or you need to be prepared for everything.

Factors that are important to consider when assembling a medical bag:

• Sport – As we mentioned in the introduction, the contents of the medical bag must correspond to the specific sport. Therefore, it is important to understand the nuances of the sport and typical injuries in order to be able to best prepare for any possible scenario.
• For location – it is necessary to consider whether sports competitions are held outdoors or indoors. When competing outdoors, you also need to think about the weather and air temperature. It is also important to pay attention to the location in order to understand how close and how accessible the help is, for example, from Emergency Medical Care. If you are going to a tournament abroad, then the medical bag should be as complete as possible.

4 products that will come in handy in every medical bag of a sports team:

The contents of the medical bag can be quite extensive, which depends both on the expected sporting event and on the financial budget of the team. Without going into the extensive list of medicines, we want to highlight 4 products that will definitely fit into any medical bag.

1.Cold spray
– this product is special in that it offers a quick, instantaneous cold and analgesic effect. The cold spray is immediately ready for use, it does not need to be frozen, like cold gel packs and does not lose its cooling effect. It’s a great alternative if you don’t have an ice box with ice available. Cold spray can be used immediately after an injury, as it can help relieve pain and the formation of edema. A cold spray may not be as effective as a cold gel pack or ice. It certainly doesn’t provide such a “deep” cooling effect. But instead, it is always available and ready to use. The cold spray should not be applied to the area of soft tissue damage – cuts, scratches, or bleeding.

2. Warming massage cream
– which helps to warm up the muscles before sports activities. It has been scientifically proven that, for example, during football matches, most non-contact injuries occur at the very beginning or at the end of the game. There are two opposite reasons for this – insufficient warm-up and overload. Warming massage cream helps to eliminate the first – insufficient warm-up. Of course, nothing can replace the traditional warm-up before sports activities. However, a warming massage cream can be very useful and help to warm up your muscles even more effectively. As a rule, it is used to warm up and massage a particular part of the body. For example, where discomfort has been felt before, there has been a sprain or some kind of injury. Heat has a well-known effect – in promoting the elasticity of soft tissues. Elastic, mobile soft tissues are at lower risk of injury. Therefore, a warming massage cream will definitely be one of the most sought-after things in the contents of a medical bag.

3. Sports teips – to sports teips We will include the sports teips themselves, sub-teips, as well as elastic teips.

Sports teips are usually inelastic, cotton material teips used when stretching joints to give the joints extra stability and support. Sports teips usually stretch the joints of the ankles, wrists and fingers. Sports tattooing, however, requires skills and must be able to perform correctly in order to achieve the desired effect. Sports tattooing is very effective in the prevention of injuries. For example, after an ankle sprain, it can be stretched for some time to reduce the risk of repeated dislocation or sprain.

The undershirts are made of lightweight and flexible foam material, which is usually placed under the white teips to promote the comfort of the puttying technique and reduce squeezing and friction. Other uses are also found in sports, such as being put over blisters or used as fixation material for patches and bandages. Subteips are a fairly economical and universal product.

On the other hand, elastic sports teips, or elastic bandages, are useful after sports injuries, bruises, the formation of edema, etc. Elastic teips can be used to create a compression effect, which is one of the basic principles of first aid (R.I.C.E principle – Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation). Flexible sports teips, similar to ordinary inflexible teips, can also be used in sports teipping. This method will give less stability, however, you can feel more comfortable after the sensations. If an athlete does not want the ankle to be firmly fixed, for example, then a great alternative to do this is with an elastic sports teip. In addition, elastic sports teips can be used for fixation of bandages. For example, in football games, eyebrows tend to be broken. The elastic sports teip in this case will perfectly help to fix a piece of cotton wool or gauze near the bleeding wound to stop the bleeding and prevent infection from entering the wound. Of course, it is first necessary to treat it with a wound disinfectant.

4. Foil blanket
– will be useful not only at sporting events, but also for various hikes. A foil blanket can be a really real “life-saver” in different living conditions. It is advisable to take a foil blanket until you go hiking. A foil blanket is an effective method of preventing hypothermia, as a foil blanket helps the body retain its body heat by reflecting it back against the body. If the sporting event takes place in cool, rainy weather – a foil blanket can be useful to keep your body warm. Especially if an athlete gets some kind of injury and remains in a lying position on the ground, it is necessary not only to call an ambulance, but also to make sure that the possibility of hypothermia is eliminated.

Recommended products for every first aid bag