Injuries can be difficult enough to deal with, but if some of the things you’ve been doing in your approach and preparation have led to you getting injured, that’s even worse.
I’ve put together my 5 tips to avoid sports injuries that might help you. They won’t mean that you can’t get injured, but they might just help avoid going out of your way to do so!
[If you aren’t one of my patients and are not sure if this advice is suitable for you, then please discuss it with your health care professional.]
1. Fitness
Being ‘match fit’ is really important so you don’t place too much strain on your body for your current level of fitness. If you haven’t played for a while and try to play 80 minutes of rugby, you will be more at risk of injury later in the game. Similarly, if you are only running 4 or 5 miles at a time, attempting a half marathon is likely to be too much for you. This can lead to one-off injuries like a pulled muscle, or relative overuse problems from too much loading of your body.
So, think about the level and intensity of your training and pace yourself accordingly, which just might stop you getting a sports injury.
2. Your Kit
You don’t want to be classed as ‘all the gear, no idea’. That said, it’s important to have clothing and equipment that’s fit for purpose and of good enough quality for the activity you want to do in order to avoid a sports injury. Very old or really cheap trainers, for example, are more likely to give you biomechanical problems in your lower limbs when you run, whilst low quality equipment like a tennis racket or golf clubs might lead to increased strain as you struggle to get performance out of them.
If you’re not world class, you might not need world class equipment, but is your gear good enough for what you want to do?
3. Be Realistic
This is the ‘I’ve still got it section!’
Can you still play or compete at the level you were at 10 years ago? Are you fit enough to keep up with younger players, or will it be hard enough just to get close to them.
Pushing yourself too hard, or assuming that you can still play at a level that you used to be able to, are definite causes of sports injuries.
Consider dropping down a level or standard in your sport. Playing in a lower league for a season to bring up your match sharpness or skill levels might be a good idea and then you can decide whether you can return to your previous level.
4. Recovery
There’s an old adage that you don’t get fitter or stronger in the gym or the training pitch, but rather when you rest between training sessions. And this is true, training and playing will stimulate your body – telling it that it needs to improve to make sporting activities easier – but it’s only between these loading sessions that your body grows. I regularly treat people who will train quite intensely; the same way, on most days, with no recovery or loading in different ways. This is not only asking for a relative overuse problem, but it’s also not giving the body the chance to recover and grow.
So, rest and recovery are not wasted periods of time, they are essential elements of your fitness, and avoiding them will increase the risk of sports injuries.
5. Listen to your Body
You know those days when you get out of bed and wish that you hadn’t? You really can’t be bothered with work / school / looking after the grand kids and you’d just as soon have a day off..?
It’s no different with training. How you are feeling is quite a good indicator of how hard you can train, or even if you should train at all. If your hamstring is feeling particularly tight, or your back is sore, is it a good idea to push yourself in a training session? I’m not saying don’t train at all – although that might not be a bad idea – but maybe if you do train in these examples, you might do a lower impact session, perhaps go to the pool instead of running or maybe do a core workout.
Keeping on pushing yourself because you want to, or feel you need to because of events that are coming up, might just be the worst thing you could do.
5 TIPS TO AVOID SPORTS INJURIES – SUMMARY
In summary, the last thing that any of us who train or compete wants is to get an injury that will stop us in our tracks (no pun intended). Worse still, it might just throw off your training programme in the lead up to a big event or stop you playing in an important match on the weekend.
Prevention is always better than cure.
So, make sure your kit and equipment work properly for you. Don’t try and compete at too high a level or train too intensely for your current level of fitness and ability. Listen to your body – allow yourself to recover between sessions and don’t be afraid not to push yourself too hard on days when your body doesn’t feel able to do so.
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy has further advice and guidance on prevention of sports injuries and sports injury management, here.
If you have got an injury and want me to take a look at it, please do get in touch.
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