Whichever sport you participate in, there is always potential to get a sports injury; whether it’s caused by physical exertion, misuse of a piece of gym equipment, not wearing the right equipped for your chosen sport -think running shoes for playing squash- or an accident when taking part in your chosen sport, are all common causes of a sports injury.
How to prevent a sports injury
Prevention is better than cure; but what does that mean? Each sport will use a certain set of muscles in a certain way, so to prevent a sports injury you have to strengthen the core muscle you will use for you chosen sport. One way to strengthen these core muscles it to regularly take part in your chosen sport. Now I’m not advocating you go run a marathon every day to strengthen your muscles, -this will almost certainly lead to a -sports injury- but if you were to run regularly: i.e. 3 times a week, and you started by walking to give your muscles a bit of a heads up, then over time build-up to running, then all the walking will have strengthened the muscles you will eventually use for running. If necessary, book a training from a certified coach or instructor.
Warming Up Most of us –if we were being honest- do a very poor attempt of warming up before taking part in sports, we all know we should, warm up, but we very rarely do a proper warm up session, especially if we are outdoors where people can see us! Take you time when warming up, a proper warm up will reduce the chance of picking up a sports injury and will improve the flexibility of your core muscles and give the rest of your body chance to wake up before you start your main session. Think about wearing extra clothing, like a tracksuit or a sweatshirt to help your cold muscles, especially if you are outdoors!
Stretching Ok, so you have warmed up by cycling or jogging -note I said jogging and not sprinting flat out- for five minutes, now what? Now you muscles are a bit warmer, before you decide to attack that Stair Master you need to spend some time stretching. Remember not to ‘bounce’ when stretching, find the resistance point and then hold the stretch eventually building up to 20 seconds. Don’t over stretch you muscles, this will most certainly lead to a sports injury before you’ve even started! If it hurts, then there you’re doing something wrong.
Cooling Down This does not mean a quick shower and a well earned cold beer. Cooling down is as important to prevent a sports injury, as warming up. To just stop and let your -now very warm- muscles cool down without warning or assisting them is not the best practise when tying to prevent a sports injury. As you did, when warming up, spend some time cooling down gently, give your body time to adjust to the fact you are about to stop.
How Long Should I Spend Warming Up? This all depends what your chosen sport is, but anything from 5 mins to 20 mins prior to your sport, but remember that a quaility warm up will help prevent a sports injury.
Sports Massage Don’t assume that sports massage and physiotherapy is only for professional athletes or just for when we mere mortals have a sports injury! Sports massage and physiotherapy is a great way to prevent a sports injury occurring. You might think that sports massage and physiotherapy is expensive and you cannot afford it, but if you treat it as a cost of taking part in your chosen sport, just as you do your gym membership, your running shoes or you carbon fibre road bike, then its just another tool to help you achieve you goals, no matter what level you participate in. I would always recommend seeing a qualified professional if you already have an sports injury, but for sore muscle and preventative treatments, we can help ourselves in this area, the next time you’re in the shower, or bath try massaging the muscles you use, the warm water will help the blood circulate, warming the muscles and the soap will help your fingers or hand glide over you skin, if you cannot reach the area, this could be a great excuse to get you partner to help…………
You can find out more about sports injury prevention at the Sports Massage Association official website.
Most of us at one time or another will visit the Physio and may require additional service or products as a result.
Physio Room is the UK's most visited sports injury website targeting football, rugby, running, skiing, snowboarding & tennis participants.
Physio Room offer a huge range of products from leading brands such as Aircast, Mueller, Vulkan, Maxim, Donjoy, Spenco, Noene, Nathan, Sorbothane & Compeed.
Maximuscleresearch and create products designed to help all of your muscle needs. This can range from muscle repair, recovery, growth, power, strength, energy and toning your muscles as part of fat loss.
Maximusclehave spent decades helping the top sportsmen and women achieve their goals including the British & Irish Lions, London Wasps, Fulham FC, Josh Lewsey, Gavin Henson and London Triathlon winner Michelle Dillon.
