Anyone can get injured
Whoever is an athlete can suffer from a sports injury. You look through the history books of sports and you will see so many sports stars get injured – but one thing to keep in mind is that most of them come back! That is because of proper care, rehab, prevention exercises and a good team around them.
You are no different – you need to learn everything you can and your team is at your fingertips as you can find most things you need to know online. In more complex situations or where something is not healing – we recommend a number of type of experts you can reach out to. If you want more info, get in touch with one of our sports coaches and we can help you decide what you need to do to get the ball rolling in the right direction.
Sports Injuries
Some sports injuries can be minor, while some are major and will need medical attention to recover from as soon as possible.
If you feel weakness or tension in your muscles, then this could happen because of extreme exercise or inadequate fitness and even because of lack of proper warm-up routine. Many sports people injure themselves because of insufficient warm-up session.
The key is in prevention – and nothing is more important than being mobile and flexible.
But if you have already missed the trick in prevention techniques then that is okay too. The road to recovery is never closed for most people.
Lack of Mobility & Inactivity!
Something that is overlooked is the lack of mobility in so many athletes; which could help prevent injuries by a long shot!
Mobility is different to stretching and strengthening – it is the ability for the body to be functional and have all range of movement and motion in optimum condition.
Your muscles should be functioning correctly and have balance. If not, then muscle injuries, tightness, tension and aches are all too common. This happens when the muscle fibers become weak as a result of imbalance, that’s why you often feel tired after a vigorous exercise or when you try to stretch your exercise limit beyond a certain point.
Lack of mobility is why many get back and shoulder pains too. The correct techniques for mobile hips, ankles, shoulders, wrists (all your pivot areas) are so important for overall functioning, but also for posture; which is important for how you will approach your sporting activities.
Flexibility & Strength is Key
It is crucial for your body to remain flexible and strong – athlete or not. So if muscles in a particular area are tight, then it will have its effect on the opposing muscles. Strong muscles on one side of the body and weak on the other will cause muscle imbalance and this will lead to pain and tension. This can lead to a limited range of movement too.
So, to keep your muscle tissues, joints, and bones healthy, you should do regular stretching and strengthening exercises. Remember there are so many options for every part of your body. It is also key that a warm-up is a part of your exercise routine. When you warm up, you also prepare your body for the routine exercise as well. (See Juiced Upp’s content/article on flexibility)
Common causes of injuries
To cut a long story short, you will suffer from common sports injuries at some point in your life.
Following are some of the common reasons why you may suffer from sports injury:
- Overtraining
But you increase the chances of getting in injured if you do a) too much or sometimes b) Too much too soon.
You should do training that is required for your body and shouldn’t exhaust yourself while doing it. You are overtraining when you are not taking a break from your routine, you feel physically and mentally exhausted despite forcing yourself into the gym every day and when you are working out beyond a recommended time. The recommended workout times can vary for athletes at every level but in a nutshell these are something to think about to help give you some idea about how much is too much.
- An average professional boxer may run 5 miles a day, do 1.5 hours of weights and a rigorous boxing circuit (pads, sparring, bag work) for 2 hours every day. This is only when they are 3 months out from a fight and they usually take a break after this period!
So ask yourself, are you a professional boxer? Do you need to train like one? Should you be training like one?
- National Health Organisations recommend only 30 mins of exercise a day! Now in our opinion this could be more, but at least you know what the minimum is – this could include walking, cycling or just being more active in the day using lifts, stairs etc
- Normal everyday 9-5 office workers can usually get a strong 1-2 hours a day of working out. We would say 3 days minimum a week and maximum 6 days a week on this sort of schedule is sufficient – depending on your life commitments, fitness level and health goals
Some of the common symptoms of over training can be:
- Trouble sleeping
- Feeling fatigued all the time
- Unable to concentrate better
- Unable to perform well while playing sport.
- Putting pressure on the troubled spot
Often athletes overlook minor injuries and continue putting pressure on the already weak muscles or joint pain. When an injury is mild, it is better to give it some rest or treat it rather than not paying attention and putting pressure on the injured area again and again.
Even minor injuries can worsen with time if you don’t pay attention to the initial signs. Some common injuries which people often overlook are thrower’s shoulder, rotator cuff tendonitis, tennis elbow, jumper’s knee, and planta fasciitis.
Don’t ignore pain. Ensure to take rest in between, and the best thing to do is to give some rest to the injured area to heal faster and apply a proper rehab programme.
- Not taking care of your warm-up session
Warm-up is essential for your training session. If you fail to do adequate warm up training, you might suffer from joint or muscle pain. Let us repeat – Warm-up is crucial for your body! It accelerates the blood flow in your body and prepares you to perform well during sports and exercise.
Within your warm-up routine, you should include cardiovascular and stretching. This way each part of the body becomes flexible and gets ready for increased performance. A proper warm-up can help you prevent injuries too.
A good tip is also to warm up on lighter weights during a lifting session. But don’t over do the reps on these as they will drain you of the energy required for more intense or heavy lifting.
- Using poor technique
Another reason why you may suffer from a sports injury is when you repeatedly perform sports or exercise using poor technique. You should have the correct knowledge about a particular sport and how to perform it. Without proper technique, your body will suffer, and you might end up having an injury.
The best way to avoid such incidents is to watch your technique in the mirror or record your lifts on a smartphone so that you learn the right way of performing a particular exercise. Also, make sure that you are wearing appropriate shoes, clothes, and using the right equipment as well.
How can legal anabolic steroids help you?
It is known to all that safe steroid use is recommended by many athletes. Even the medical practitioner will ask you to take safe steroid to enhance your endurance and fitness.
There have been reports stating that illegal steroids are in the market and is causing severe side effects to users. That’s why you should always stick to natural steroid. Natural steroids are also the first choice for so many professional athletes. The legal steroid can help you with increased energy, muscle growth, better endurance level, and more.
