How To Avoid Sports Injuries?

The regular practice of a physical activity is essential for the well-being of the body and the spirit; it cannot be said enough. However, sport can sometimes be the cause of joint, tendon, muscle pain.

To avoid sports injuries, everything counts equipment, diet, hydration, sports activity, and technique. Some sports injuries are due to trauma. On the contrary, others are instead provoked by the repetition of an erroneous gesture, which it is better to identify and correct quickly.

In these cases, when pain occurs, it is essential to ask the right questions to intervene and find a suitable solution promptly. To prevent any injury from returning, it is necessary to understand the cause that caused it.

In this file, you will find advice from the sports doctor to apply during sports training (equipment, technique, hydration. Also, learn what mistakes to avoid at all costs and the precautions to prevent any risk of sports injury. And since diet can also play a role in damages, we review the foods to favor staying in shape without risks. In good shape!

Find Right Sports Equipment

If worn shoes, unsuitable for your body type, weight, or even training sessions’ frequency and intensity. When running, you are strongly advised to choose your shoes well and change them after 1,000 to 1,500 kilometers, i.e., three training sessions per week over a year. A little less, between six months and a year, for people over 75 kilos.

In tennis, we must check the quality of the rackets, strings, grip, and balls, and in football, the quality of the studs or the ground.

Whatever the sport, get advice from specialists in the discipline.

Learn the Proper Technique

How many people at the pool get tired quickly or risk having back pain because they can’t swim? How many others get tennis elbow because of a bad act in tennis or badminton? The technique exists, of course, for performance but above all to limit the risk of injury.

In case of pain, ask a sports doctor, physiotherapist, sports coach, or trainer to correct your actions. The physical work must also be adapted to your morphology.

Also Read: What Are The Professional Jobs Available In Sports?

Correct an Insufficient Balance

Postural, joint, and muscle disorders are a cause of chronic pain. A deviated pelvis can lead to knee problems. Likewise, a genu varum (arched legs) can cause fragility of the Achilles tendon.

Postural rebalancing and correction of muscle imbalances should be considered by a physiotherapist, an osteopath, or a physical trainer when possible. The overweight is also a cause of joint pain, especially on the lower limbs.

What Should You Not Do?

We do too much too quickly; we forget to warm up before and stretch after, suddenly change exercises, or always add more, and then one day, it is the accident.

All sports doctors’ recommendation is unanimous: you have to train crescendo, both in volume and intensity. The good progression is 10% to 20% more activity per month.

It is also essential to listen to your body, to program more or less long rest periods during the year to let the body digest the past training.

After the Injuries resume slowly—no early recovery, otherwise, the pain may reappear very quickly, or new pain will occur. Ultimately, it is the complete cessation of activity that awaits the most addicted.

Therefore, resume sport with a softer activity: cycling, gentle gym, swimming, aqua gym, rowing. Gradually alternate one session in three, then one in two with your main activity until the total resumption of this one.

What Should Be The Diet?

They are often too restrictive in people who exercise to lose weight. The sporting activity requires intake in sufficient quantities to produce energy and transmit it to the muscles. Also, without overeating or anything, don’t make severe calorie restrictions that will tire you unnecessarily.

Favor certain fats:

Eat more of the “good” fats that contain omega-3s. They are found in certain vegetable oils (rapeseed oils, walnuts, etc.) and fatty fish (salmon, sardines, mackerel, etc.). They have anti-inflammatory properties and promote healing. Just like some spices: ginger or turmeric.

Choose the “right” foods:

Avoid red meats before and after training or competition that does not allow good recovery. Favor fruits, fresh vegetables, and slow carbohydrates: pasta, starches, legumes, or cereals.

Drink enough:

Drink water regularly and in small sips during and after training to help the body recover faster. Drink even if you don’t feel thirsty. And even remember to drink a little before you even start your effort.

According to the French Society of Sports Nutrition, beware of so-called energy drinks, contrary to what one might think, is not suitable for sports expenses.

Also Read: How Will Be The Training In The Fields Of Sport, Fitness And Nutrition

Take Advice From Sports Doctor

Should we stop during a workout if we feel pain?

It is difficult to answer this question unequivocally. Any recent and unusual pain should prompt a consultation. The pain on warm-up is generally not severe. As for overwork pains, we can recognize them if they are accompanied by overtraining signs such as permanent fatigue, sleep disturbances, irritability, lack of interest in social activities.

Why can so many chronic pain not find a solution?

First of all, the initial diagnosis was not exact, hence the need to have recourse to a doctor specializing in sports medicine.

Secondly, because the initial support period is too long, the brain ends up “printing” a chronic pain message that can persist even after the anatomical lesion has disappeared.

Finally, because we do not yet know everything in medicine, for example, in sciatica or tendonitis cases, there is no link between the severity of the damage found on imaging (X-ray, CT scan, MRI ) and the intensity of the pain.