Sports injuries occur during physical exercise, giving rise to different types of muscle and joint injuries. Tendon or muscle injuries, knee or ankle sprain, and bone fractures are some of the more common conditions.
Knowing the prevention and treatment measures for injuries is essential to minimize the risk of suffering discomfort and pain after sports activity.
If you want to specialize in this field, you can expand your knowledge and skills with the Master’s in Sports Medicine and thus promote an effective and safe practice of exercise, both in professional athletes and in those who perform some type of physical activity.
What are the causes of a sports injury?
Among the causes of sports injuries, the most common is usually the following:
- Do not warm-up before exercising.
- Misusing sports material and equipment.
- Have a low physical condition.
- Executing the exercises incorrectly, without paying attention to the technique.
- Overtrain.
- Not respecting sports rest.
5 most common types of sports injuries
There are different types of sports injuries, but these are some of the most common among athletes.
- Achilles tendonitis
It is a type of sports injury that occurs as a result of overloading the Achilles tendon, the one that connects the muscles of the rear calf with the heel bones.
Achilles tendonitis is one of the most common tendon injuries. In this case, you should know that there are two types: tendinitis, which is inflammation of the tendon, and tendinosis, which refers to discomfort and pain in the tissue.
- Knee ligament injury
Knee ligament injuries occur when the ligaments are torn or torn. From there, the area becomes inflamed and great pain is generated. An example of this is the sprain of the internal lateral ligament of the knee or the anterior or posterior cruciate ligament.
- Bone breaks
Fractures are the best known among bone injuries, but there are also others related to overload that can end up generating breaks.
- Muscle injuries
They usually occur due to physical overexertion, due to forced movements, and trauma. Some of the best-known muscle injuries are contractures, contusions, muscle cramps, or strains, among others.
- Lumbar sports injuries
Low back pain is very common in athletes. And it is that many times, in the practice of exercise, either due to overload or poor physical condition, we incorrectly involve the spine and it suffers. Consequently, this may result in short-term or long-term injury to the area.
How to prevent sports injuries
Although it is true that completely avoiding the risk of injury in sports is not feasible, there are a series of practices and recommendations that we can follow to minimize the possibility of suffering from pain and discomfort after practicing physical activity. These are some of the indications that we must take into account to prevent sports injuries :
Always warm-up before training
It is essential to do a good warm-up so that the body gradually warms up. And it is that going from inactivity to practicing exercises of greater or lesser intensity, significantly increases the risk of suffering injuries.
Calm down gradually
We said that you have to start exercising directly without going through the warm-up phase. Well, the same thing happens in reverse. In other words, we should not go from intense physical activity to suddenly stop. Therefore, the idea is to do a progressive calm down in the last minutes of training.
NEVER skip stretching
It is just as important to warm up before training as it is to end up doing a good stretching session. This allows the muscles to calm down and obviously greatly prevents the occurrence of possible injuries.
Lead a healthy lifestyle
Physical exercise is a fundamental pillar to having a healthy lifestyle, but as you know, nutrition and hydration complete the perfect combo to gain health and quality of life. Therefore, do not forget to drink plenty of water and meet nutritional needs.
Treatment of sports injuries
The treatment of a sports injury will depend on the level of severity of the injury. For this reason, professionals in sports traumatology are the profiles indicated to assess how to address each discomfort and apply sports rehabilitation in each case.
Broadly speaking, sports injuries are usually corrected with physiotherapy sessions, use of ice, prescription of analgesics and anti-inflammatories, plenty of rest, and, in some cases, surgical treatments, such as dislocations and bone fractures, for example.
