Unfortunately, most of us, especially those who are physically active, aren’t strangers to injuries! Whether you work out at the gym every day or spend your days with little to no movement, at some point in our life the likelihood of an injury is all but guaranteed. An important part of keeping our bodies and minds healthy is remaining physically fit. Many who have set a goal for keeping themselves active know the heartbreaking feeling of getting injured and having those goals pushed back for weeks, months, and sometimes even years.
While the general event of an injury largely occurs by accident, fitness-related injuries can be prevented, or at the very least, minimized by consistent physical care and holistic interventions.
In what follows, we’ll be discussing the most common fitness-related injuries, what you can do to prevent them, and we’ll even be providing several tips for athletes eager to remain healthy throughout the competition season.
The Most Common Fitness-Related Injuries
As mentioned, injuries are extremely common in the world of fitness and sports. And let’s face it: there’s no way the solution is to avoid exercising or sports. Those who are physically active know that their bodies and brain are simply not wired to sit around cautiously all day. They feel the itch and urge to move even when they’re injured and should be resting for a time.
However, while it’s all but inevitable to be injured at some point, a crucial element of fitness is taking all the precautionary measures that you can to avoid harm or at least minimizing the degree of harm. The first step to preventing injuries is knowing which of these are the most common and those are the following:
- Muscle Strains
- Ligament sprains
- Knee Degenerative Disease
- Traumatic Knee Injuries (ACL Tears)
- Bone Fractures in Sport
- Tears & Ruptures
- Dislocations & Separations
- Tendonitis
As mentioned, all of these injuries can result in both mild or severe events, some more prevalent than others. Luckily, most can be prevented with the right approach
How to Prevent Injury from Physical Activity
Prevention is no doubt the best medicine there is, whether preventing health-related
conditions and diseases or fitness-related injuries.
Below are Several Common and Effective Injury Preventative Measures:
- Warm-Up & Cool Down (i.e. Dynamically and Statically Stretch).
- Avoid Overtraining
- Exercise Safely Using the Proper Gear & Technique
- Rest & Recover
- Prioritize Nutrition and Hydration
- Practice Proper Movement Mechanics
- Foam Roll & Trigger Point Therapy
- Proactive Physical Therapies (i.e. Chiropractic, Massage, Physical)
These prevention strategies might seem overwhelming to those who are new to fitness, which is why it’s important to remember one golden rule: listen to your body.
Many, many times, injuries will result from someone ‘’pushing through the pain’’. While muscle soreness can be an indication that you effectively worked out a muscle group, you should always try and gauge from your body whether you’re pushing past your body’s limit in that moment and time. This can especially happen when someone returns to physical activity after an injury.
One of the preventative measures for injuries mentioned above included proactive therapies, one of which is chiropractic care…
The Benefits of Chiropractic Care for Athletes
Not only can an experienced chiropractor evaluate, diagnose, and treat injuries and sources of pain & discomfort, but they can also aid in proactive recovery and injury prevention via proven chiropractic techniques.
Chiropractic can help athletes reach their goals by optimizing the communication between nerves and muscles. A lot of people don’t realize that the nervous system is what signals muscles to contract and relax, which is why someone who has had a terrible injury to their spinal cord can become paraplegic. The location where nerves communicate with muscles is called the neuromuscular junction, where stimulation of a nerve produces the “message” which is a complex interaction between substances like calcium, sodium, acetylcholine, and acetylcholinesterase.
By properly communicating with muscles, unimpeded nerves can help increase an athlete’s range of motion, flexibility, and performance. In fact, an incredible study1 found that a single adjustment increased the strength of a muscle in study participants by 19% and that the speed of the nerve-to-muscle communication increased by 22%.
It’s no wonder that upwards of 90% of professional world-class athletes benefit from regular chiropractic care!
The following is a summarized list of the benefits one can expect from taking part in regular chiropractic treatment:
- Promotes Recovery
- Relieves Stiffness & Soreness
- Reduces Inflammation
- Increases Range of Motion & Flexibility
- Eliminates Pain & Discomfort
- Boosts Performance
- Helps Avoid Medical Intervention & Invasive Surgeries
- Aids in the Treatment & Prevention of Injury
If you’re feeling any pain or discomfort and are eager to do all that you can to prevent an injury from developing, don’t hesitate to reach out to your local chiropractor for advice, guidance, and treatment.
References
1Niazi IK, Kamavuako EN, Holt K, Janjua TAM, Kumari N, Amjad I, Haavik H. The Effect of
Spinal Manipulation on the Electrophysiological and Metabolic Properties of the Tibialis
Anterior Muscle. Healthcare (Basel). 2020 Dec 10;8(4):548. doi:
10.3390/healthcare8040548. PMID: 33321904; PMCID: PMC7764559.
https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/workout-injuries-prevention-and-treatment#1
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/overuse-injury/art-20045875
https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/workout-injuries-prevention-and-treatment
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