A few tricks on how to prevent injuries!
Are you a frequent gym go-er? Or just about to start? Or maybe you’re an athlete? Either way, injuries can occur to all walks of life. BUT! they CAN be prevented.
The most common cause of injuries that occur range from over training, incorrect technique, inadequate hydration and factors relating to people’s behaviour (pushing through pain when It’s not needed)
Have you ever heard the phrase “No pain, no gain”? Well, this is somewhat true; however you must be able to determine the difference between pushing yourself in and out of the gym and pushing past an injury.
HOW TO PREVENT INJURIES!
The implementation of a proper warm up specific to that of the exercises selected in your session is key to assisting in the prevention of injuries. A warm-up aims to increase temperature of the body, increase overall blood flow, loosen joints and muscles by incorporating dynamic movements and self-myofascial release techniques (self-massage with that hard little ball thing you see people rolling around on)
PREVENTION STRATEGIES
PRIMING the body for the movements you are going to perform is a perfect way to ensure the muscles that are about to get worked are prepped and ready to go.
Fire up the CNS (Central nervous system) with some REACTIVE movements that require thinking e.g. juggling, or as seen in one of our latest Instagram posts throwing a ball at a Bosu ball to get things fired up.
The ultimate way to prevent injuries is to TRAIN the muscles and movement patterns you wish to continually perform. Progressively introduce movements and strengthen the muscles needed for these movements to ensure your body is healthy and able to cope with the load.
WHAT IS LOAD!?
Load is not just the weight you lift, its how many times you lift it, how many times you perform a movement or how many times you train. If you monitor your load correctly you will enable your body to adapt, recover and become stronger (this is called progressive overload).
We must not forget SLEEP! Allowing for adequate sleep will enable proper recovery from the session or working day you have just had.
And finally, my favourite for injury prevention… REST! I don’t mean lay around all day and do nothing but active recovery such as gentle aerobic movements, running, rowing, gentle skipping and lighter weights. Active recovery will promote healthy oxygenated blood flow through the body to promote the healing process.
It is important to minimize the risk of sustaining an injury, ensure you implement the right prevention strategies and train smart! DON’T OVER DO IT.
If you are still struggling with a niggling injury, why not book in with one of our expert Exercise Physiologists to get it finally sorted!
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