There are various causes of sports injuries, most of which are due to common types of exercises. Read to know about the methods of prevention of sports injuries.
“The road to athletic greatness is not marked by perfection, but the ability to overcome adversity” – Nike.
No one wishes for injuries to be a part of any athlete’s story. Unfortunately, they are one consistent factor that every athlete would have to deal with at some point in their career.
“Write your injuries in dust, your benefits in marble” – Benjamin Franklin.
Sports injuries are no happy stories. While minor injuries only require several days for a full recovery, some are serious. They could last weeks, months, and in some cases, even years ending an athlete’s professional career.
Completely avoiding injuries in sports is almost imaginary, as many professional sportspeople have had to deal with such cases at some point in their careers. There are various causes of sports injuries.
However, to prevent sports injuries is a more viable option to reduce its possibility to the barest minimum level.
Preventing sports injuries would, however, be near impossible without the knowledge of the various common injuries that nearly every athlete suffers.
Top 5 Most Common Sports Injuries And Their Causes
Here are the five most common types of sports injuries.
1. Muscle Sprain and Strain
Sprains and strains are the most common injuries experienced in sports. Sprains occur in cases where there is a sudden stretch of ligaments beyond its yield point, resulting from tearing or deformation due to quick motions.
Strains, on the other hand, refer to cases involving injuries to the muscle fiber. It can be due to overstretching or overusing the muscle in question past its limit.
2. Wrist and Ankle Injuries
Just like the name sounds, these are injuries that happen in the wrists and ankles of a person. Both occur due to sprains and strains. However, wrist injuries usually result from cases where the wrist suffers an overwhelming weight – at least twice the body weight. There are ways of preventing this type of sports injury.
3. Concussions
These are most commonly found in really intense sports such as football (rugby), soccer, boxing, wrestling, hockey, and a few more where a collision is part of the game.
Concussions occur from significant hits to the head, which could result in dizziness, brain injuries, amnesia, headaches, and so on. While minor cases require simple rest and few medications to heal, fatal cases could result in permanent, irreparable damages to the casualty.
4. Shoulder Injury
A shoulder injury is quite common in sports, making up an entire 20 percent of all sports injuries. These injuries include cases such as dislocations, sprain, and strain to the shoulder, etc.
Shoulder injuries are not usually severe and only require a few days or weeks to recover fully. It is common among sports such as handball, basketball, tennis, badminton, swimming, etc.
5. ACL Tears
We can find the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) in the knee. It helps to hold the leg bone to the knee. Injuries to the ACL are quite severe and usually occurs due to sudden stops or change in direction which can.
As a result cause strains and tears to the ACL. In some cases, a hit to the knee side could be all it takes to make the famous “pop” sound, which signals an ACL injury.
Methods of Prevention of Sports Injuries
We have put together some best prevention methods for common types of sports injuries.
- Always wear the required protective gear, such as helmets, pads, and guards. There are no rewards for being brave other than spending some time in the medical unit.
- Ensure you properly warm-up before the event, as this reduces the risk of tears and sprains with the body, especially for athletes returning to strenuous competitions after a while, no matter how short.
- Be attentive to your body reactions and ensure to bow out if you experience any pain, as playing on only worsens and extends the severity of the injury.
- Take a sufficient amount of water or acceptable fluids before or during the event to prevent heat illness.
- Use the right and proper technique, as a high percentage of countless injuries suffered by athletes have all been attributed to the wrong approach and technique, usually caused by an over-enthusiastic approach to certain situations.
- Understanding your limit and knowing when to stop or give up. Attempting to push the body beyond its capacity inevitably results in gruesome injuries.
- Avoid certain food intakes before an event, unusually heavy and gaseous foods or drinks. Some foods to avoid include Beans, dairy products, 100% fruit juices, fried and fatty foods, carbonated beverages, alcohol, desserts, and spicy foods.
- Constant exercise and always staying fit both on and off-season periods help prevent sports injuries.
- Always rest well to avoid common injuries due to fatigue and overuse of the body. Resting also increases physical and mental awareness.
- Take time off once in a while to help the body heal.
- See a sports therapist to assess and diagnose your physical condition to prevent apparent injuries from occurring.
3 Natural Ways To Treat Common Running Injuries
1. Sleep
Sounds strange, right? But studies have proven that sleep is one of the significant activities one should often engage in during recuperation to speed up recovery. Sleep aids majorly muscle injuries s, including tears, strains, muscle pull, and a few others. But why?
Muscle injuries are rarely severe and easily heal compared to skeletal damages and dislocations. During sleep, the body consumes the lowest amount of energy, and the blood flow is balanced, inducing a recovery process.
This aids cell regeneration and reproduction, which in turn repairs the damaged tissues and parts of the body. Athletes with muscle and similar injuries are generally advised to have at least 8 hours of sleep while recuperating to aid quick recoveries.
2. Diet
Remember, in high school, when your instructor always pounded on the healing factors of foods with high protein content? Well, congratulation! You are finally putting it into practice. Though diet may not help in prevention, it will certainly help in healing many sports injuries.
Injuries might be unfortunate, but sometimes you only have to eat your way through it, as several food categories and supplements have been known to aid recovery from unfortunate injuries. These include:
- Protein-rich foods like egg, lentils, etc.
- Fiber-rich foods nuts, oats, etc.
- Vitamin C, D, and calcium-rich foods like citrus fruits, milk, salmon, kale, sweet potatoes, beans, etc.
- Zinc-rich food like legumes, whole grains, etc.
- Glucosamine (supplement – as prescribed by a doctor)
- Creatine (supplement – as prescribed by a doctor)
3. Exercise
On several occasions, injuries incapacitate the athlete in question. However, as soon as movement is possible, the victims are usually advised to begin minor exercises at least. Especially ones that directly have impacts on the injured areas, this helps ensure the body is not permanently damaged when fully recovered.
Most importantly, exercises stimulate immune activities, which is proven to boost immune activities and production of anti-inflammatory effects, which aids the building and repair of damaged body tissues.
Final Thoughts,
From my experience as an athlete, it is quite obvious the body always does the talking. However, simple factors and undemanding activities could be enough to prevent sports injuries.
Therefore, it’d be wise never to ignore the basics; most times, these little tips prove to be the difference between a long successful career and an injury infested short-term athletic career.
Have you faced any common types of sports injuries while playing sports? What are your methods of prevention of sports injuries?
Let us know your thoughts on the causes and prevention of sports injuries in the comments section below.
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