If you love to workout, train and move your body, then you already know how beneficial leading an active lifestyle is for your health and well-being. But getting into a healthy exercise regime is only half the battle – you need to be able to maintain it, too. And to do that, it’s helpful to avoid any injuries that could set you back or force you out of your routine.
Whether you’re a seasoned athlete or new to exercise, this article is your go-to resource for maintaining a fit and healthy lifestyle with fewer setbacks and less downtime. Read on for our top tips and practical strategies to help you prevent injury…
Understanding Common Fitness Injuries
There are two main types of injuries: traumatic and non-traumatic. Traumatic injuries are what we perhaps first think of when we think of an injury, they are the kind we come away with when we have an accident. Non-traumatic injuries develop gradually over time due to a range of factors related to how we train and what our bodies do on a day to day basis. Being consistent, building your fitness level up gradually and doing a variety of exercise can help you stay injury free and help you avoid the downtime that injuries cause.
Traumatic Injuries
Sometimes, however careful you are, traumatic injuries happen. Rolling your ankle whilst out for a run, breaking a bone, or dislocating a joint can all be unfortunate events that can happen whilst exercising (and sometimes also when you’re not!). Whilst it can be hard to prevent such injuries from happening, there are things you can do to make sure you are as prepared as you can be.
Firstly, match your training to your skill level and don’t push yourself way beyond your means. Often our patients have just pushed themselves too hard too soon which then results in an injury, so listening to your body and understanding its limits is really helpful and help you avoid getting injured. Also, wearing proper protective gear, such as a helmet or body armour if you’re riding a bike will help minimise your risk of a severe injury.
Working under the guidance of an experienced trainer could help you make less risky choices and allow your body to work in a more controlled way that is suited to your current ability.
Non-traumatic Injuries
Non-traumatic injuries are usually the result of cumulative stresses placed on your body, which can make them more challenging to prevent. Most of the time, we can avoid getting injured, but occasionally things get too much for our body to cope with and pain occurs.
You can help prevent cumulative, non-traumatic injuries by:
- Moving your body regularly in a balanced and non stressful way
- Have a good posture
- By avoiding poor form or technique when exercising
- By not overtraining and giving yourself sufficient time to rest and recover
- By warming up and down.
While the risk of both traumatic and non-traumatic injuries can be minimised, avoiding non-traumatic injuries requires the most consistency. Below, is more specific training advice, tips and tricks for preventing cumulative injuries.
The Importance of Injury Prevention Training
Injury prevention training will vary from person to person, depending on factors such as what your goals are, what activities you enjoy, what your existing fitness level is and whether you have any existing injuries. Now whilst these factors do vary for each individual, there are some general rules to follow, that can help keep you fit, active and injury free.
Resistance Training
Resistance training is one of the best injury prevention methods you can incorporate into your exercise routine. While many sports and workouts do incorporate resistance strength training, others have a narrower focus on certain areas of the body. Including resistance training into your routine, can help your body be stronger and more flexible.
Resistance training helps strengthen your ligaments & muscles and improves your bone density, reducing your risk of skeletal injuries – which is particularly important as you age. So, if you’re a runner, swimmer, cyclist, footballer or sporting enthusiast, consider adding a few resistance training sessions into your weekly exercise routine to complement your discipline-specific efforts. Our osteopaths often recommend resistance training to our patients because you can start gradually using a resistance band or low weight at home, which can then be increased and built up over time.
Neuromuscular Training
Also known as proprioceptive training, neuromuscular training is an increasingly recommended form of injury prevention training. It has been shown to decrease the incidence of injuries such as ankle sprains and knee injuries in athletes who engage in certain sports. The method encompasses a range of movement types, all aimed at optimising how your nervous system and muscles communicate.
Working closely with someone who is trained in neuromuscular training such as a physical therapist or exercise physiologist can help you get the most out of this type of training.
Rest
And lastly, some of the most important injury prevention training is the training you don’t do! Not allowing your body adequate rest time and just pushing through can push your body to its limit, which can then lead to injury. Learning to listen to what your body is telling you is vital. For example, if you’ve had a long, exhausting week at work where you have felt particularly stressed and haven’t slept well, it is perhaps not a wise decision to go and do a gruelling workout at the end of that week as you could be more prone to injury. Getting a good nights sleep, letting yourself relax and going to do a more gentle type of training on the weekend, could be more beneficial for your body and put you at less risk of injury.
Knowing when your body needs to rest and recover if something feels ‘off’ in your body is important. Resting doesn’t always mean being completely dormant, it can mean adapting your training to a more gentle form of exercise, such as walking, gentle resistance training or swimming for a period of time. An active recovery is often much more effective but this means tailoring your training plan to help your recovery. An osteopath can help guide you through an appropriate routine to meet your specific injury needs.
Our osteopaths try and equip our patients with their own ‘first aid kit’ of exercises and lifestyle adaptations so they have their own injury prevention toolkit at the ready, should they need it!
Best Practices and Exercises to Prevent Injury
A qualified physiotherapist, osteopath or personal trainer can help tailor a routine to meet your goals and specific needs. Using this approach allows you to be targeted, using your time most effectively which helps you achieve long lasting results.
Below is a list of simple exercises and best practices that could help you get started, but we would recommend seeking more specific advice if you are currently injured.
Warm Up
First things first, always kick off your training sessions with a sufficient warm up. It doesn’t matter what you do, so long as it gets your heart pumping and your muscles warm. You can start with 5–10 minutes of gentle jogging, biking, skipping, or whatever activity you enjoy to help increase your heart rate which helps warm up your muscles and joints.
Stretching
Theres been a long debate about when is the right time to stretch, do you do this after your warm up or at the end of your training session. It depends is the answer! There’s not one definitive answer to this, for our patients we often just recommend stretching – it doesn’t matter when you do it too much, just incorporate it into your exercise routine.
If you have warmed your body up thoroughly, this should put you in a good place to start exercising, whether you have stretched or not. Don’t just warm up parts of your body, think of your body as a whole unit and look to incorporate global stretches into your warm up / cool down. Walking lunges, spinal rotations, and leg pendulums (standing on one leg and swinging the other back and forth) are good full-body options. Our bodies are connected, exercising your arms, also works your back muscles, all the way into our lower backs and gluteal muscles, so its important to warm your body as a whole!
Cross-Training
Generally, cross-training is the best way to keep your body injury-free. If you’re passionate about running, tennis, lifting weights or any other specific activity, focusing all your efforts on that one thing can be tempting. However, incorporating a range of movements and exercise types into your weekly schedule will improve your performance in the long run and reduce your risk of overuse injuries. Cross-training can also minimise injuries by preventing the muscle imbalances that can occur when you focus too long on one particular exercise type. You should be aiming for a combination of cardio and strengthening exercises through a variety of different activities and exercise. Doing different types of cardio exercise uses your body in different ways, for example, if you’re a runner, you might switch up some of your cardio sessions with a swim, a bike ride, or rowing.
Prioritising good form over load and intensity is also useful when trying to prevent injuries. Often in clinic when people injury themselves whilst exercising, its because they have been doing the exercise in a rush or they have increased the weight more quickly than they are use to and haven’t given their body time to adapt, so consider this when you’re training.
How to Prevent Injuries in Specific Activities
The specific strategies you use to prevent injuries will depend on the type of activity you’re engaging in. Whether you’re an elite athlete, an enthusiastic amateur, or just starting out, engaging a coach, personal trainer, or physical therapist to discuss injury prevention in your field is essential. Below are some tips to get you started.
Preventing Running Injuries
Running injuries are some of the most common – and frustrating, especially if you are training towards a particular goal as they can set you back in your progress.
Simple tips to help reduce the risk of a running injury are:
- Warm up sufficiently
- Allow sufficient recovery time between runs
- Wear supportive, well-fitting shoes.
- For longer distance runners, adequate hydration and nutrition also play a key role in keeping you in good shape.
- Cross training – mix up your running with other cardio exercise and resistance / strength training.
Preventing Weightlifting Injuries
While lifting weights is great for building strength, weightlifting injuries are also common. Most lifting injuries result from poor form, heavy lifting, or a combination of both. If you’re new to lifting, it’s essential to consult a fitness professional to get your form on point and ensure you’re starting with a weight that is appropriate to you. Build up gradually: it’s better to get your form good and feel comfortable at a weight and to gradually work up from there, rather than to jump in at a weight that’s too heavy and end up setting yourself back. Always train with a partner who can spot you, and keep working with a qualified trainer who can guide you as you gain strength.
Preventing Injuries in Contact Sports
Injuries occurring during contact sports can be harder to prevent, because the natural of these sports makes them more unpredictable – you don’t know what other players are going to do etc. In some of these sports, wearing protective gear can help such as wearing a mouthguard, shin pads or helmets. When selecting protective gear, look for accreditation, ensuring safety requirements are met. You should also ensure a good fit so your gear isn’t likely to move during an impact or when running.
Preventing CrossFit Injuries
Many of our patients go to CrossFit gyms or similar clubs and this type of training is popular because of the community element, the friendly competition with others and because progress is easy to see as your results improve. Occasionally, in a group situation, you are encouraged, either by others or yourself, to push yourself further than you are fully comfortable with. So, in group fitness scenarios, regularly check in with your body, run your own race, avoid comparison with others in the group and don’t hesitate to speak up if a particular exercise feels too much, a good trainer will provide you with an alternative exercise or an adaptation of the one that feels too challenging.
Preventing Injuries When Exercising Outdoors
Lastly, if you’re exercising in the elements – for example, training on an outdoor football pitch, taking a hike, or cycling – you should prioritise hydration and fuel to ensure you’re not at risk of muscle cramps, weakness, dizziness, lethargy or heat stroke. Dehydration can be particularly dangerous when hiking in isolated areas or places where a fall, from fainting or muscle weakness, could be particularly dangerous.
Preventing Injuries in Everyday Life
Many of us do give some thought to what our bodies are doing when we exercise, it can be during our everyday lives that we think less about how we use our bodies and what we ask them to do on a day-to-day basis. Injury prevention strategies shouldn’t just be applied when you’re at the gym or training, you can apply them to your everyday life too. Stress management, sleeping well, eating healthy, having good social engagement, enjoying your work and moving regularly are all factors we need to consider when we want to live a healthy lifestyle and prevent an injury.
Workplace injuries are some of the most common among the working-aged population – which makes sense, given it’s where we spend so much of our week! You can minimise your risk of injury by maintaining a healthy posture, ensuring you’re following ergonomic protocols and adhering to safe lifting guidelines can help prevent injuries. This is equally true for those working a desk job as it is for those who do physical labour, our work often has us doing repetitive movements which over time can lead to overuse of an area.
Of course, though, not every accident or injury can be prevented. Sometimes, injuries do happen! In some of these cases, the symptoms will settle quickly, and other injuries may take longer to heal and repair. For those of us passionate about living a healthy, active lifestyle, injuries often aren’t front of mind, which is exactly how it should be! If you do get an injury, working with a physiotherapist or an osteopath could help you understand your body and your injury thoroughly, and with tailored advice, help get you back doing what you love ASAP! Pain and injuries often induce fear, so having a thorough understanding of your injury and your body can help reduce this fear, helping you get back moving and exercising sooner!
In general, the more regularly you move and the bigger the variety of movements your body does, the more adaptive your body will be, helping reduce your risk of injury. Our bodies are designed to move and be active, so living an active lifestyle can help keep you fit and pain-free! Sadly, though, that doesn’t make us immune to injury, and there are certain injuries, such as overuse injuries, that we may even be more likely to experience if we’re passionate sportspeople.
Contact us if you’d like a tailored injury prevention plan or have questions about managing an existing issue; we’d be more than happy to help!