Sports injury prevention and treatment methods

The core of the prevention of sports injuries is "not to carry it hard, not blindly follow the standard template, and do fitness testing in advance." More than 90% of non-accidental injuries can be avoided by relying on these three points; and the treatment after the injury does not need to rely on the universal rules passed down from the Internet. First determine whether it is an acute closed injury, an open injury, or a chronic strain, and then intervene accordingly to avoid aggravating the injury.

Don’t believe it. Two years ago, I prepared for a half-marathon with a friend who had just started running. He copied the weekly training schedule of a cross-country running guru and ran 10 kilometers three times a week. After running for three weeks in a row, he came to me with a limp. The MRI showed that he had patellar tendinitis, and he didn’t dare to run long distances for half a year. I don’t blame him for this. There are a lot of “standard training plans” and “standard movement tutorials” online. There are even two factions in the fitness circle who are arguing: one group believes that movements must be stuck to the millimeter level to avoid injury, while the other group believes that as long as the force feels correct and the joints do not hurt, it is okay to have crooked movements. I specifically asked an acquaintance of the national team doctor, and he said that both of these are too extreme - how can there be any absolute standard? For example, if your knees are naturally buckled, and you insist on imitating other people’s squats with a shoulder-width stance and toes turned 30 degrees apart, you will have to grind your meniscus after squatting twice; if your acromion is naturally convex, and you insist on copying other people’s heavy-weight neck push-back, you will most likely develop acromion impingement syndrome. The so-called "standard movements" are a reference template for most ordinary people, not a golden rule suitable for everyone. Feel the feedback of your joints when practicing, and stop immediately if it hurts. It is 10 times more effective than the hard standard.

There is another pitfall that many people have stepped on: they think that they can do whatever they want after wearing protective gear. I saw a young man in the gym before. He dared to do a 180 kilogram deadlift while wearing a waist brace with a steel plate. Halfway through the lift, his face turned pale and his waist still flashed. Protective gear is originally meant to "relieve emergencies, not the poor". Wearing it when carrying heavy loads or relapsing old injuries is to provide additional protection for the body. However, if daily exercise is inseparable from knee and wrist braces, the relevant muscles will not be exercised, and the strength will become weaker and weaker. In the end, without protective gear, it will be more likely to be injured. I have been playing amateur badminton for almost 10 years. I only wear ankle braces when playing matches. I rarely wear them when practicing. I practice ankle balancing training by standing on one foot when I have time. I can count on one hand the number of times I have sprained my ankle over the years. By the way, don’t press and stretch your legs as soon as you warm up. Static stretching is done after practice. The most important thing to do before exercise is 3 to 5 minutes of dynamic activation: raising your legs high, sliding sideways, and circling your wrists and ankles to "moisten" the joint fluid. It is more effective than pressing your legs for 10 minutes.

After talking about the experience of successfully avoiding pitfalls, let’s talk about what to do if you are accidentally injured. In the past two years, the RICE principle was spread all over the Internet, which means rest, ice, compression, and elevation. In the past two years, the POLICE principle has popped up, saying that you should not take a complete rest but should bear appropriate weights. Many people are confused and don't know which one to believe. In fact, both are correct, but the applicable stages are different. I sprained my foot while playing doubles last month. I heard a "click" when I landed on the ground. It swelled up like a steamed bun and hurt even when my foot touched the ground. I must have pressed RICE at this time. My teammates came up and wanted to rub me. I quickly stopped, found an ice pack and applied it for 20 minutes. I put on an elastic bandage and went home. I rested my foot on the pillow for two days and used crutches even when I got off the ground. After 48 hours, the swelling has almost disappeared by half, and then you try to slowly walk two steps while holding on to the wall. This is the "appropriate weight bearing" in the POLICE principle. Giving the damaged ligaments a slight stress stimulus will actually make them grow stronger. If you lie still all the time, the muscles will atrophy and the recovery will be slower.

Of course, this method is not suitable for all injuries. If it is an open wound such as abrasion or cut, the first priority is to clean the wound to stop the bleeding and disinfect it. Don't apply ice blindly to cause infection. If it’s a chronic strain injury that hurts for several weeks, such as tennis elbow or runner’s knee, don’t just think that it will be cured by resting. When I had tennis elbow, I rested for a month, but it still hurt when I held a racket. Later, I followed a rehabilitation practitioner for two weeks of eccentric training for my forearms, which involved holding a mineral water bottle filled with water and slowly doing wrist flexion and wrist extension, but the pain disappeared quickly. Chronic strain injuries are mostly caused by imbalances in muscle strength. Just resting without adjusting strength will easily relapse no matter how good you are.

In fact, exercise is a process of dialogue with your own body. Don't always focus on other people's pace and weight. Stop when it hurts, and adjust when you feel uncomfortable. It is more effective than any fancy prevention method. Don’t panic if you are really injured. If you are unsure, just go to the sports medicine department of the hospital to take a X-ray. Don’t blindly search for it, as it will delay your recovery time.