14 Apr Injury Prevention- Part 2
So you want to know how can you actually prevent injuries from happening? Well first check out Part 1, then read on..
Now in regard to actual injuries, there are two types of injury categories and these are classified depending on the mechanism of the injury and the onset of symptoms. They are known as acute injuries or overuse injuries.
Acute injuries can be caused from things outside of your control, such a rouge snowboarder taking you out or being tackled a certain way. They can also be caused from suddenly overloading a particular part of your body for example lifting a weight far too heavy. In some cases your genetics can make you higher risk, for example women have a 4-6 higher chance of doing their ACL, which is because of wider hips increasing the angle at the knee.
Overuse injuries develop mainly due to training and technique and sometimes an element of genetics. The cause can often be quite obvious such as a sudden doubling of training load, change in shoes or equipment. But sometimes it is a little harder to work out, for example, a muscle imbalance or leg length discrepancy or a family history of osteoarthritis.
With these things in mind, it is important to therefore focus on things that ARE in our control when thinking about injury prevention. So number 1, as I have mentioned in Part 1, managing training load and technique is key. Number 2, using correct fitting equipment and footwear and number 3, ultising appropriate protective garments specific to the risk of your activity. This one is particularly important if you have a history of a previous injury, especially if you didn’t actively rehabilitate it as, for example, ligaments can actually take over 12 months to heal even when they are no longer symptomatic or painful.
For sports that are higher risk of impact injuries, such as snow sports, mountain biking and football codes, I recommend G-Form and 2nd Skull products. They utilise padding which is lightweight and flexible at rest but can momentarily harden and absorb energy under sudden pressure or impact. I wouldn’t ride my Mountain bike without them these days, as they have sure saved me from some close call crashes of late! Check them out here.
Despite all of your best efforts, there may still be circumstances where you sustain an injury, so what should you do then? Check out my next blog Injury Management to find out.
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