Patients frequently ask the question, ‘how do I avoid injury’? The answer to this is multi-factoral, but prevention is always better than a cure! Although accidents happen and we can never guarantee an injury won’t occur, what we do know is that different sports are more susceptible to different injuries due to their differing physical demands. For example, we tend to see overload injuries such as achilles and patella tendinopathies in runners and teenagers, shoulder impingements in swimmers, ankle sprains in jumping sports like basketball and netball and of course the dreaded ACL injury with our basketballers, netballers and footballers.
The good news is we know that the risk of a lot of these injuries occurring can be reduced by implementing preventative strengthening and improved neuromuscular control programs.
This prevention program consists of a warm up, stretching, strengthening, plyometrics and sport specific agilities to address potential deficits in the strength and coordination of the stabilizing muscles.
- Warming Up
Warming up before exercise is common knowledge, but how can you effectively warm up? The ‘warming up’ part of a prevention programme is very simple and is designed to allow you to prepare for exercise. Try a slow jog in a straight direction, side to side and backwards. This should take 1 minute per jog.
- Strengthening
Now, try some gentle strengthening exercises to increase the stability of your legs. Walking lunges, squatting and single leg calf raises are all excellent exercises to introduce to your warm up routine. 10 reps of each will suffice.
- Plyometrics
Next, move on to some plyometrics – these are the explosive movements designed to improve power, strength and speed for your workout. You can try hopping over something, a cone for example, trying to hop forwards over it, backwards and sideways. This can be performed either single leg or both legs. You can also try a split lunge – where a scissor movement is performed. It’s important to remember that when you land, it is soft and on the balls of your feet.
- Agility
Lastly, you have your agility work. This is the part that mimics your workout the most and prepares you optimally for your activity. It involves sprinting forward for 5 seconds, and stopping completely in three steps. It teaches the athlete how to properly accelerate and decelerate while moving forward. You can also try a diagonal run, where you run diagonally for 3-5 seconds to the right, then pivot off the right foot and run left, then pivoting off the left and so forth. Lastly, the bounding run is a great way to increase hip strength, power and speed. It involves running with your knees up to your chest. Land on the ball of your foot, and increase the distance you bound as able.
- Stretching
Stretching is probably the best way to prevent injury and post workout soreness. It should always be done after you’ve finished your workout. By performing these stretches, you can improve and maintain your range of motion, reduce stiffness in your joints, reduce post exercise soreness, reduce the risk of injury and improve your overall mobility and performance. Gently stretch to a point of tension and hold. Hold the stretch for 30 seconds. Concentrate on lengthening the muscles you are stretching. Breathe normally. Common muscles that can get tight are the calfs, hamstrings, quads, groin and hip flexors.