Overcoming & Preventing Sports Injury
If you’re involved in the health & fitness
industry, whether it be participating in your favourite sport,
coaching, training or just keeping fit, you'll know how annoying
and debilitating a sports injury can be. In reality, when you
have a sports injury you’re actually losing on two fronts. Firstly,
you’re losing simply because your body has been hurt and now
needs time and care to repair itself. And on top of this, you’re
also losing the time you could have been putting into training
and improving your sporting ability.
A sports injury is a bit like losing money.
Not only do you lose whatever you were going to buy with that
money, but you also have to work hard to make up the money you've
lost. Take it from me, a sports injury is one of the most frustrating
and debilitating occurrences that can happen to anyone who’s
serious about their health, fitness, sport or exercise.
The Cold, Hard Facts
I recently read an article titled "Managing
Sports Injuries" where the author estimated that over 27,000
American's sprain their ankle every day. (and, no, that's not
a typo, EVERY DAY) On top of this, Sports Medicine Australia
estimates that 1 in every 17 participants of sport and exercise
are injured playing their favourite sport. This figure is even
higher for contact sports like Football and Gridiron. However,
the truly disturbing fact is that up to 50 percent of these
injuries may have been prevented.
The Professionals Secret Weapon
While there are a number of basic preventative
measures that will assist in the prevention of sports injury,
there is one technique that has slowly been gaining in popularity.
It’s still not used as often as it should be by the average
sports participant, but with the professionals using it more
and more, it’s only a matter of time before it starts to catch
on. Before we dive into this little used technique for minimizing
your likelihood of sports injury, lets take a quick look at
some other techniques to help you prevent sports injury.
So, Where Do You Start?
Most people are coming to understand both the
importance and the benefits of a good warm-up. A correct warm-up
will help to raise body temperature, increase blood flow and
promote oxygen supply to the muscles. It will also help to prepare
the mind, body, muscles and joints for the physical activity
to come.
While warming-up is important, a good cool-down
also plays a vital role in helping to prevent sports injury.
How? A good cool-down will prevent blood from pooling in your
limbs. It will also prevent waste products, such as lactic acid,
building up in your muscles. Not only that, a good cool-down
will help your muscles and tendons to relax and loosen, stopping
them from becoming stiff and tight.
While preventative measures such as warming-up
and cooling-down play a vital role in minimizing the likelihood
of sports injury, other techniques such as obeying the rules,
using protective equipment and plain common sense are all useful.
The One Technique to Cut Your Chance of Injury
by More Than Half
So what is this magic technique? Why is it such
a secret? And how come you haven't heard of it before? Well
chances are you have, and also, it’s not that secret and it’s
definitely not magic. You've probably used this technique yourself
at some point or at least seen others using it. But the real
question is, how dedicated have you been to making this technique
a consistent part of your athletic preparation?
What is it? STRETCHING. Yes, stretching. The
simple technique of stretching can play an imperative role in
helping you to prevent the occurrence of sports injury. Unfortunately
stretching is one area of athletic preparation often neglected.
Do not underestimate its benefits. Don't make the mistake of
thinking that something as simple as stretching won't be effective.
Stretching is a vital part of any exercise program and should
be looked upon as being as important as any other part of your
health and fitness.
In recent time the professionals have been getting
more and more serious about stretching and ultimately, their
flexibility. The coaches and trainers are just starting to realize
how important flexible muscles are to helping prevent sports
injury. Flexibility has often been neglected in the overall
conditioning of modern athletes. It’s only now that its benefits
are proving invaluable to all those serious about staying injury
free.
How Does Stretching Prevent Injury?
One of the greatest benefits of stretching is
that you’re able to increase the length of both your muscles
and tendons. This leads to an increased range of movement, which
means your limbs and joints can move further before an injury
occurs. Lets take a look at a few examples.
If the muscles in your neck are tight and stiff
this limits your ability to look behind or turn your head around.
If for some reason your head is turned backwards, past its'
normal range of movement, in a football scrum or tackle for
example, this could result in a muscle tear or strain. You can
help to prevent this from happening by increasing the flexibility,
and the range of movement, of the muscles and tendons in your
neck.
And what about the muscles in the back of your
legs? The Hamstring muscles. These muscles are put under a huge
strain when doing any sort of sport which involves running and
especially for sports which require kicking. Short, tight hamstring
muscles can spell disaster for many sports people. By ensuring
these muscles are loose and flexible, you'll cut your chance
of a hamstring injury dramatically.
How else can stretching help? While injuries
can occur at any time, they are more likely to occur if the
muscles are fatigued, tight and depleted of energy. Fatigued,
tight muscles are also less capable of performing the skills
required for your particular sport or activity. Stretching can
help to prevent an injury by promoting recovery and decreasing
soreness. Stretching ensures that your muscles and tendons are
in good working order. The more conditioned your muscles and
tendons are, the better they can handle the rigors of sport
and exercise, and the less likely that they'll become injured.
So as you can see, there's more to stretching
than most people think. Stretching is a simple and effective
activity which will help you to enhance your athletic performance,
decrease your likelihood of sports injury and minimise muscle
soreness. If you'd like to know more about stretching and how
it can help you, order a copy of The Stretching Handbook today.
