5 Most Common Sports Injuries And How To Avoid Them

While exercising, there is always a risk of injury. There is no guarantee it will never happen to you. Some injuries make it difficult for you to make progress and sometimes make it impossible for you to workout for a long period of time. There is an old but wise saying: "It is easier to prevent a disease than to cure it."

So instead of spending weeks recovering and getting out of shape, it's better to follow simple guidelines that will help you avoid major sports injuries and keep training.

How to Prevent a Sports Injury

These tips may help you workout safely and reduce the risk of getting injured.

- Always do a warm-up before you start. To warm up the muscles, take half the weight that you usually use in sets.

- Never overdo a particular muscle group. Training should be versatile enough and aimed at several muscle groups so as not to overwork them.

- Work with a coach. It is very important to have a qualified specialist nearby who will explain how to perform the exercise correctly and what to do. Therefore, it is better to spend money to hire a coach than to invest even more in your treatment later due to improper exercise techniques.

What Are the Most Common Sports Injuries? 

1. Foot and ankle injuries

Many of us spend most of our time in front of computers both at school and at work. And in the evenings, we put on sneakers and exhaust our legs so they cannot cope with all that work. This is due to the fact that in sneakers, your heel is positioned higher than the toes. Therefore, the fingers hold the most weight. Any push or kick in this position may result in ankle/leg injury. To avoid this, choose shoes with lower heels. The ankle should be approximately on one level with the toes. Consider tennis shoes or walking shoes.

2. Knee injuries

Most often, knee injuries occur due to doing a squat after a cardio workout. There are a few things to keep in mind here. Before you squat, forget about your ego: never lift a weight you can't handle. Never work on your legs without a warm-up approach. Last but not least, never fully extend your knees during leg exercises.

3. Lower back injuries

Lower back injury can take place if you go too low during the squat or if you do the deadlift incorrectly. The main cause of back pain is muscle tension. To avoid this, you need to strengthen the core of the body. If you want to do complex exercises like the squat or deadlift, you should workout at least 3 times a week to develop a strong body. Again, never lift a weight you can't handle.

4. Shoulder injuries

Here, the muscles of the shoulder girdle are most often injured. You need to rotate your shoulder joints outward to balance your shoulders. The most well-known exercise for this is the low pulldown. Stand next to the equipment and turn towards it from the side you will be working on. Bend your elbow at a 90° angle. Now turn your hand in and back, pulling it towards your stomach.

5. Neck injury

Very often, a neck injury occurs due to incorrect body position during exercise. So always maintain the correct posture. Support your neck in the exercises by placing your hands behind your head if possible. In addition, strengthen your neck muscles. To do this, do reverse shrugs more often.

Shrugs are, in fact, the only exercise for the isolated formation of the trapezius muscles. The latissimus dorsi and the middle of the back are also involved in the work.

Hanging on the bar (or parallel bars), lift yourself a few centimeters without using your arms. Do this by dropping your shoulders, the reverse of the shrug. Pause at the top of the movement, then slowly return to the starting position. Perform the exercise the required number of times.