Sports injuries - the basics

Sports injuries can be frustrating, especially when they stop you from doing what you love. With the right treatment and care, however, most injuries heal well.

When you’re injured, it can be tempting to stop all physical activity while you heal. Staying active, however, safely and in the right way, is very important for your recovery and overall fitness. It reduces loss of fitness, speeds up recovery, helps maintain strength and muscle balance, supports mental well-being and helps to prevent secondary issues.

Once the injury has moved away from the acute stage, exercises can begin to build strength around the injured area to provide support. As the injury improves, speed and power of movement are developed along with flexibility, proprioception and balance. Attention is given to the kinetic chain to ensure that the muscles are engaging at the correct time.

Understanding the physical requirements of your sport is key to this.

The aim is always to prevent injuries rather than treat them. To do this, it is important to find out why the injury occurred in the first place. It could be bad luck, poor mechanics, ineffective warm-up, muscle imbalance, inappropriate footwear – the list goes on.

Key points to remember for injury prevention:

• Take breaks: If you feel pain, fatigue or discomfort, don’t push through it.
• Take rest days: Recovery days are just as important as training.
• Communicate: Good rehab is all about teamwork. Talk to your doctor, coach, physio. Let them know if something doesn’t feel right.