Understanding Sports Injuries: Tips for Prevention and Recovery

Sports injuries or injuries occur during exercise, giving rise to different types of muscle and joint injuries. Tendon or muscle injuries, knee or ankle sprains, and bone fractures are common conditions. Knowing the prevention measures and the treatment of injuries is essential to minimize the risk of discomfort and pain after sporting activity.

What are the causes of a sports injury?

Among the causes of sports injuries, the most common is usually the following:

• Do not warm up before physical effort.
• Improper use of sports equipment and materials.
• Having a bad physical condition.
• Performing the exercises incorrectly, not paying attention to the technique.
• The overtraining.
• Not respecting sports rest.

What are the most common sports injuries?

In training, getting injured is easy, and in any sport. In addition to extreme sports like snowboarding and skiing, the most dangerous areas are football, rugby, hockey, and figure skating. But you can get bruised or torn ligaments even in rhythmic gymnastics classes or while playing tennis.

The most common types are dislocations and sprains. The knees and elbows are usually affected, but sometimes athletes injure the feet, hands, and ankles.

The most common injuries include:

• Muscle stretching results from a sudden movement or an unreasonably high load. Manifested by severe pain and impaired mobility;
• Ligament tear is also the result of overuse;
• Damage to the Achilles tendon – the result of an unsuccessful landing after a jump or a bruise of the corresponding tissue area;
• Dislocation. It damages not only muscle fibres but also tendons. The reason is the unsuccessful setting of the body;
• Epicondylitis (otherwise – tennis elbow). It results from degenerative processes in the shoulder joint when playing sports, which involve monotonous, stereotypical movements. Manifested by severe pain;
• Fractures. It is a violation of the integrity of the bone. Moreover, fractures can be both open and closed;

These injuries occur because the athlete performs the exercises incorrectly, makes sudden movements, neglects the warm-up, and instead immediately proceeds to increased loads, including lifting sports equipment.

How to prevent sports injuries

While it’s true that completely avoiding the risk of injury in sports isn’t feasible, you can follow several practices and tips to minimize the chance of suffering pain and discomfort after exercising. These are some of the indications that you must take into account to prevent sports injuries.

Always warm up before exercising

It is essential to do a good warm-up so that the body warms up gradually. In fact, moving from inactivity to the practice of exercises of greater or lesser intensity greatly increases the risk of suffering injuries.

Gradual return to calm

As told in the previous point, you should not start training directly without going through the warm-up phase. Well, the same thing happens in reverse. In other words, we shouldn’t go from strenuous physical activity to suddenly stopping. The ideal, therefore, is to gradually return to calm in the last few minutes of training, helping us with passive stretching.

NEVER skip the warm-up and cool down

It is just as important to warm up before training as it is to calm down afterwards. This allows the muscles to calm down and obviously greatly prevents the occurrence of possible injuries.

Have a healthy lifestyle

Exercise is a fundamental pillar of having a healthy lifestyle, but as you know, nutrition and hydration are the perfect combination to gain health and quality of life. Therefore, don’t forget to drink plenty of water and meet your nutritional needs.

Rehabilitation and treatment of sports injuries

Treatment for a sports injury will depend on the level of severity of the injury. For example, complex fractures and a torn meniscus may require surgery. In less severe cases, treatment options include a course of drug therapy (painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs, drugs for tissue regeneration and bone strengthening). At the end of the course, a program for the recovery of athletes after injuries begins, which can take a long period of time.

Features of rehabilitation after physical injuries

Methods of physical rehabilitation for injuries depend on the degree of damage to muscles and bones. There are cases when the recovery process allows you to completely return to normal life and the previous pace of training. But there are also injuries that lead to disability. In this case, the recovery program for athletes after injuries is aimed at adapting people to new living conditions. Then specialists work not only with the physical side of the problem but also with the psychological one. The help of a psychologist may also be needed by the relatives of the victim.

Where does recovery begin?

Medical rehabilitation after injuries includes several stages:

• Elimination of puffiness vascular pathologies, and congestion, which always occur with prolonged immobility;
• Increased muscle tone and improved elasticity. Muscles need to be smoothly prepared for high loads, especially after a long break;
• Full recovery of motor activity. This is done without haste to avoid too high loads;
• General strengthening of the body;

The features of the rehabilitation of athletes are that even at the initial stage of treatment, they must maintain their usual lifestyle – at least just follow a diet, adhere to the recommended duration of periods of sleep and activity, etc. This largely determines how quickly a person can again join a busy schedule of classes.

What are the recovery methods?

Physical rehabilitation of athletes after injuries begins only after the acute phase is over, and the doctor is allowed to start simple exercises. Rehabilitation therapy should be carried out under the guidance of a qualified rehabilitation coach. Only he will help to return to a normal level of physical activity.

Such methods of recovery in sports are used:

• Physiotherapy procedures. This is a treatment with weak electric currents of a certain frequency, ultrasound, and magnetic therapy. All this helps to eliminate swelling and pain, muffle the intensity of inflammatory processes;
• Paraffin therapy, which helps restore joint mobility;
• Massotherapy. It aids in the treatment of numerous types of tissue damage by increasing blood circulation and giving oxygen and nutrients to cells. This stimulates the body’s healing processes, accelerates tissue regeneration, and activates muscles. A therapeutic massage program typically consists of 10 daily sessions. In more serious cases, there may be a day’s break between sessions.
• Reflexology is a whole group of techniques that include acupuncture and hirudotherapy;
• Strengthening the joints by taking funds based on chondroitin sulfate and a vitamin-mineral complex;
• Physiotherapy. Moreover, all exercises are selected individually, taking into account the state of the body. In addition to them is mechanotherapy. This method involves the same exercises, only they are no longer done independently but using special equipment. This requires the supervision of a specialist who will check the correct execution and the level of load;

Finally, players and exercise enthusiasts alike must take a proactive approach to avoiding and healing from sports injuries. Individuals may dramatically minimize the chance of discomfort and setbacks by implementing correct warm-up and cool-down routines, keeping a healthy lifestyle, and seeking expert help when injuries arise. Comprehensive rehabilitation under the supervision of competent specialists is critical in regaining physical health and function. Adopting these principles promotes a safe and long-term approach to sports and physical exercise, encouraging long-term well-being and performance.