How To Prevent Sports Injuries

Step 1

To begin the process of preventing a sports related injury, you must first realize that injuries do happen. The amount of force and torque that is displaced onto our joints is tremendously high. However with that being said, there are a handle full of steps that you can take to help decrease the likelihood of an injury.

Step 2

The first step that should be taken is preforming weight bearing exercises. Compound exercises such as a squat, dead lift, bench, and power clean can place a large amount of force onto your joints. These movements can help replicate the forces placed on your joints during the time of competition. Whether you are in swimming, tennis, or football, weight lifting can be a crucial component to preventing sports related injuries.

Step 3

The next important step that I would recommend includes doing agility work, sprints, and plyometric exercises. These exercises also help produce similar patterns to the forces placed on our joints during competition in sport. The body adapts to stress very well. When we stress the body with weight training or sprinting, we are forcing or muscles and bones to adapt to the forces being applied to them.

Step 4

Another important step in reducing sports related injuries is listening to your body. If you are sore, tired, and fatigued you should refrain from your training. Many people tend to train when the are sore. However I believe that training under such circumstances can be very detrimental to your bodies health. When you are sore and we place large amounts of force onto your joints and muscles the response from our nervous system can be negative due to our inability to adapt to such stress.

Step 5

To Prevent injuries try consider warming up properly as well. You should preform a dynamic warm up with little to no stretching before exercise. A dynamic warm up will prepare your muscles, joints, and nervous system for the training session that is ahead. A few examples for a dynamic warm up would include high knees, butt kicks, lunges, or A skips. There are a lot of resources online that can be used to create your own warm up routine.

Step 6

Like I mentioned in the previous step you should not stretch before exercise. I would recommend only stretching after a training session has been completed. When you stretch after a training session, it increases the length of you muscle fibers and allows you to become much more flexible and break down lactic acid. Flexibility is a large element in preventing injuries. When you become more flexible, you increase the surface area that can be applied to your muscles and joints. When you stretch you also break down lactic acid which in return helps reduce soreness felt in the muscles.

Step 7

A more passive approach to preventing sports injuries is applying ice to sore areas. Ice can work wonders to reduce swelling and inflammation which can occur when training. I would apply ice to a sore area three times a day for ten minutes at a time. SImply using ice can reduce pain and get you ready for your next training session.

Step 8

The final step to preventing a sports is the use of braces or athletic tape. If you have weakness in a joint or it is unstable, you should consider the use of a brace, tape, or even both. For example, many athletes who play basketball tend to roll their ankles. Ankle braces and taping methods can be used to help prevent such injuries. Braces can be found in sporting good stores or bought online. Using the internet is a great resource to use when trying to find taping methods for a specific joint or body area.