Tips on preventing sports injuries amid the general fitness craze

Author: Chen Mingzhi, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University

Reviewer: Li Qinghui, deputy chief physician, Guangzhou First Hospital

After the Olympics, a national fitness craze swept across the country, and more and more people began to pay attention to and devote themselves to sports. Sports bring many benefits, such as weight loss, reduced cancer risk, increased energy, improved sleep quality, fall prevention, muscle function recovery, and memory enhancement. These benefits have filled people with enthusiasm and expectations for sports, and they are eager to try and want to take action immediately.

However, while pursuing health and vitality, we must also be aware of the risks that exercise may bring. Inappropriate exercise methods not only fail to achieve the desired results, but may also cause injuries. Therefore, before exercising, it is particularly important to understand some medical knowledge about sports safety and protection.

Here are some practical tips for preventing sports injuries, which will help you enjoy the fun of sports while ensuring your safety and health in the craze of comprehensive fitness. Remember, while pursuing the effect of exercise, you should also pay attention to the body's reaction at all times to avoid injuries caused by improper exercise methods.

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1. What is a sports injury?

Sports injury refers to the injury that occurs to the human body during sports.

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2. What are the causes of sports injuries?

1. Lack of awareness and inappropriate preventive measures;

2. Insufficient preparation activities;

3. Bad mental state

4. Weak physical foundation, poor physical fitness, or incorrect grasp of movement essentials;

5. Adverse climatic conditions;

6. Poor organizational discipline and violation of activity rules.

3. Common sports injuries and their prevention

1. Tennis elbow

►Sports: tennis, badminton, table tennis, throwing, etc.

►Cause: Excessive force leads to damage to the wrist extensor muscles.

►Symptoms: Severe pain on the outside of the elbow radiating to the forearm, especially when the forearm is pronated.

►Treatment method: stop exercising, rest, apply hot compress and massage.

►Preventive measures: Perform warm-up exercises carefully; arrange training intensity reasonably to avoid excessive local load; strengthen wrist and finger flexor muscle strength training; correct incorrect movements; improve specialized technical skills and pay attention to strengthening protection.

2. Acute lumbar injury

►Sports: basketball, football, gymnastics, volleyball, weightlifting, etc.

►Cause: During exercise, the gravity on the waist exceeds the normal range of the trunk's ability to withstand; the movement of the spine exceeds the normal physiological range, which is more likely to occur when technical movements are wrong or fatigue occurs.

►Symptoms: In mild cases, pain is felt after exercise or when getting up the next morning; in severe cases, pain is felt immediately after injury, with limited waist movement, unbearable pain when sitting, and a tearing sensation.

►Treatment method: Rest on a plank bed with a small pillow behind the waist to relax the muscles and ligaments; acupuncture, blockade, external plaster and massage.

►Preventive measures: Perform waist stretching exercises before exercise, assess your waist condition during exercise, and avoid excessive stretching or excessive weight bearing that may cause damage to the waist.

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3. Ankle sprain

►Events: basketball, football, long jump, high jump, running, skiing and skating, etc.

►Reasons: Failure to warm up the ankle joint sufficiently, excessive force when running and jumping, improper landing posture, uneven ground, etc.

►Symptoms: Pain and swelling of the sprained area occur immediately after the injury, followed by bruises on the skin. In severe cases, the affected foot cannot be moved due to pain and swelling. In the case of a lateral ankle sprain, the pain worsens when the patient tries to invert the foot. In the case of a medial ankle sprain, the pain worsens when the patient tries to evert the foot.

►Treatment method: Stop exercising, raise the injured limb, apply cold compress within 12 hours, and hot compress within 24 to 36 hours.

Restorative exercises.

►Preventive measures: Special warm-up activities should be sufficient; strengthen ankle and foot muscle strength training; those who are vulnerable to injury should use protective support belts during sports competitions.

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4. Muscle strain

►Events: Basketball, long jump, high jump, barre, weightlifting, martial arts

►Cause: The muscle actively contracts or stretches beyond its capacity.

►Symptoms: local pain, tenderness, swelling, stiffness, cramps, and difficulty in stretching at the site of the strain; some injured areas have a tearing sensation, obvious swelling, and severe subcutaneous congestion. Touching may reveal a sunken or abnormally raised area, which may be a muscle rupture.

►Treatment method: Apply ice to the affected area for about 20 minutes, apply pressure with a bandage to the affected area, apply immobilization, elevate the injured limb, and apply topical ointment. It is recommended to use non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug cream, such as Voltaren cream for topical use, which has local anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects.

►Preventive measures: Do warm-up exercises within your ability and do not overexert yourself; pay attention to the temperature of the practice area; after a strain, if the treatment is appropriate and the patient can actively cooperate with rest and rehabilitation, generally speaking, the symptoms will be significantly relieved within 3 to 7 days, and can be basically recovered within 1 to 2 weeks. Moderate muscle strains may require 2 to 3 weeks of rest and rehabilitation.

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5. Ligament Injury

►Sports: basketball, football, gymnastics, volleyball, tennis, etc.

►Cause: The injured part is hit violently or pressed by heavy objects, forcing the joint to make excessive eversion or inversion movements.

►Symptoms: local pain and swelling, movement disorders, and pain that worsens when the ligament is pulled. If the ligament is completely ruptured, the joint will be unstable, and in severe cases, the joint will dislocate, which is what we call dislocation in daily life.

►Treatment method: relieve pain and swelling; apply local cold compress and pressure bandage; elevate the injured limb.

►Preventive measures: Use support belts; reduce collisions; do more joint exercises.

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6. Fracture

►Sports: basketball, cycling, martial arts, etc.

►Causes: direct violence, conveyed violence, pulled violence, and accumulated violence.

►Symptoms: pain, swelling, subcutaneous congestion, functional impairment, deformity, tenderness, throbbing pain, bone friction sound, etc.

►Handling methods: Prevent and treat shock; fix the patient in place and avoid unnecessary movement; stop bleeding first and then bandage the wound.

►Preventive measures: Avoid collisions during strenuous exercise; stop activity and perform first aid; secure and bandage.

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7. Muscle spasms

►Events: sprinting, marathon, sit-ups, etc. Features: muscle stiffness, unbearable pain, cramps, which are continuous involuntary tonic contractions of muscles.

►Causes: excessive perspiration, rapid and continuous muscle contractions, and cold stimulation.

►Symptoms: muscle pain, involuntary contractions and twitching, muscle stiffness, etc.

►Treatment methods: traction of spasmodic muscles; pinching or acupuncture of Yongquan acupoint; local massage; timely rest.

►Preventive measures: Strengthen physical exercise to improve physical adaptability; do adequate warm-up exercises; replenish water, saline and vitamin B1 in time; do not engage in physical activities when tired.

4. How to prevent injuries during exercise

1. Wear suitable sports shoes and sportswear: the soles should be non-slip and soft; the clothes should be breathable and of appropriate size.

2. Do stretching exercises for the main muscle groups before exercise: such as shoulder joints, waist, knee joints, and ankle joints.

3. Do special warm-up exercises: For example, for shot put, you need to do wrist, shoulder, knee, and waist exercises.

4. Avoid excessive strain on the neck and back muscles.

5. Maintain the balance of force among the exercising muscle groups.

6. Avoid simultaneous extension and rotation of the spine.

7. Avoid excessive exercise intensity.

8. Choose a sport that suits your physical condition.

9. Avoid exercising for too long at a time.

10. Do not exercise on hard, debris-covered surfaces.

11. Do some relaxation exercises, such as deep breathing and relaxation of all major muscle groups.

12. Use equipment to support and protect joints: such as knee pads, wrist pads, ankle pads, elbow pads, etc.

Through the above sports medicine knowledge, do you have a certain understanding of sports safety and protection? Life lies in exercise, exercise can enhance resistance and let us go further. Come on, let's exercise together!

References

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[3]Mingchang, Wang., Jade, Chee., Miho J, Tanaka., Yee Han Dave, Lee.(2024). Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs) and knee injuries: current concepts for female athletes. J ISAKOS, 9(4), 0. doi:10.1016/j.jisako.2024.05.012.

[4]Mikel R, Joachim., Matthew L, Kuik., Brian J, Krabak., Emily M, Kraus., Mitchell J, Rauh., Bryan C, Heiderscheit.(2023). Risk Factors for Running-Related Injury in High School and Collegiate Cross-country Runners: A Systematic Review. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther, 54(2), 0. doi:10.2519/jospt.2023.11550.

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[6]ZF, Tang., HY, Li.(2024). Retraction Note: Effects of fibroblast growth factors 2 and low intensity pulsed ultrasound on the repair of knee articular cartilage in rabbits. Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci, 28(18), 0. doi:10.26355/eurrev_202409_36784.