Sports injury prevention clinic

80% of sports injuries are not "uncontrollable accidents" at all, nor can they be avoided by "good luck". As long as you do these three things: ability matching, stage adjustment, and timely stop loss, you can completely reduce the probability of injury to single digits. This is the most practical conclusion after our clinic has been open for 3 years and has received nearly 2,000 sports injury patients.

Last week I just picked up a young man who had been practicing long-distance running for three months. He deadlifted 20 kilometers in order to hit the half-marathon PB. In the end, he limped in pain. The iliotibial band syndrome has reached the point of throbbing when going up and down stairs. He himself said, "I must have not done enough in the warm-up." When he was evaluated, he found that his hip abduction strength could not even reach 1/5 of his own body weight. His knees buckled in during the entire run, and his running volume increased by more than 30% every week. He had never touched the "10% running volume increase principle". To put it bluntly, his ambition was ahead of his ability, and injuries were inevitable sooner or later.

Speaking of warm-up, the most frequently asked question in the backstage recently is whether it should be static stretching or dynamic activation. Several rehabilitation therapists in our outpatient clinic will argue about it even if they have nothing to do. Lao Chen, who has a background in gymnastics, insists on doing static stretching before exercising. He does this for 30 seconds per group until the muscles feel sore. He says it can reduce muscle adhesion and reduce the risk of strain. ； Xiao Zhou, who was trained in powerlifting, firmly opposed it, saying that static stretching would temporarily reduce the explosive power of muscles, and it would make it easier to lose weight after stretching before heavy training. In fact, is there any standard answer? If you go to a flexibility-oriented class such as yoga or Pilates today, it’s absolutely fine to do static stretches before class. ； If you are running sprints or doing heavy deadlifts, doing a few sets of dynamic activation with leg raises and hip circles before the game is much more effective than stretching your muscles for 10 minutes.

Oh, by the way, there is another pitfall that is most easily overlooked: incorrect equipment. Don’t wear dad shoes or canvas shoes to run 5 kilometers. Last week, a sophomore girl ran on campus wearing limited-edition trendy brand dad shoes. She suffered a stress fracture in her metatarsal bone after 5 kilometers. The pain lasted for two weeks. It was supposed to be cured by resting for ten days and a half, but now she has to wear a brace for two months, and she can’t attend classes normally. You don’t need to buy the most expensive equipment, but it must match the project: for running, wear cushioning/support running shoes that match your foot shape, and for playing ball, wear special sports shoes with enough wrapping. Don’t save money on this.

As for the topic of "should you continue when it hurts?" which has been quarreling for more than ten years, the two schools of thought are vastly different. Fitness bloggers who believe in "No pain no gain" say that pain is just muscle growth, so just grit your teeth and get over it. ； Conservative rehabilitation therapists say that if it hurts, stop immediately, and you can’t bear it even half a moment. The judgment criteria of our clinic is actually very simple: if it is soreness, swelling, and heaviness, especially delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) that only occurs 24 to 72 hours after exercise, rest assured that you can rest for two days. That is because the muscle fibers are repairing normally and strength can be increased. ； But if you experience sharp tingling, numbness, sudden inability to exert force when exerting force, or even pain when the joint snaps, don't hesitate to stop immediately. If it doesn't relieve after two days of rest, come to the clinic as soon as possible. Don't apply plaster at home and carry it on. We have seen too many cases of chronic injuries caused by hard work. The rotator cuff was strained while playing badminton for half a year. In the end, it was difficult to even lift the arm to put on clothes. The gain outweighed the loss.

I usually give guidance to patients and never suggest that they directly copy the training plans of Internet celebrities. They may have 10 years of training foundation and their core strength is twice as strong as yours. You have just practiced for a month and you are doing 100kg deadlifts and 200 burpees. That is not called hard work. It is purely to set KPIs for our outpatient clinic. It's like driving F1 when you get your driver's license. It'll be strange if nothing happens. Start with low intensity first. Don't increase the training volume and difficulty by more than 10% every week. Stability is better than anything else.

In fact, after running this clinic for so long, the last thing I want to see is injuries that could have been completely avoided. Many people slap their thighs and regret when they come, "I wish I had been slower" and "I wish I had checked whether my movements were correct". Exercise is for fun and health. Don't injure yourself just to post on Moments or hit a PB. If you are really not sure whether your movements are correct or whether your training plan is suitable, or you are feeling a little uncomfortable and don't know whether it is okay, you can come to the outpatient clinic to see us at any time and spend 10 minutes for an evaluation. It is much better than trying to figure it out at home.