Sports Injury Prevention Lesson Plan

More than 90% of sports injuries among ordinary sports enthusiasts (non-professional athletes) are not caused by "bad luck" or "too much intensity", but by "action patterns that do not match the current athletic ability + lack of risk prediction". The prevention core does not need to excessively pursue expensive protective gear and professional team-level standardized warm-up procedures. As long as "ability layered adaptation + dynamic adjustment of the entire exercise process" is achieved, most unnecessary injuries can be avoided.

I came across a typical example when doing offline risk assessment for a local running group a while ago: a young man who had just joined the running circle for three months had set a marathon goal of 330, an unbeatable 10 kilometers a day, and was fully equipped with carbon shoes, compression knee pads, and compression leg sleeves. As a result, he had an acute attack of patellar tendonitis last month and had to move even downstairs. After seeing a rehabilitator for a X-ray, he discovered that his core strength was weak and he never paid attention to the problem of his knees buckling in when he landed. Instead, the thick knee pads he wore put all the impact of landing on his patella. He developed inflammation within two months of running. Are you saying that he doesn’t pay attention to prevention? No less money was spent and no less effort was exerted, but it happened to fall into the trap of "treating protection as a gold medal for immunity from liability".

There are actually two schools that have been arguing about injury prevention in the sports circle for many years, and no one can convince the other: One school is the "technology first party", which advocates that the movements must be polished to 100% standard before the intensity can be increased. For example, to practice squats, you must first spend 3 months practicing on the empty bar to find a sense of force, and when running, you must first change to "landing on the ground" to extend the distance, otherwise you will get injured every time you move.； The other group is the "load-first party", saying that ordinary enthusiasts don't have so much time to focus on detailed movements. As long as the load is gradually added, the body will naturally adapt to the movement pattern, and the probability of injury is lower than that of people who are obsessed with movements. After being exposed to hundreds of injury cases, I feel that there is nothing wrong with either statement, but they are suitable for different groups of people: If you usually sit for a long time and have poor coordination, there is nothing wrong with spending 1-2 weeks first to find the feeling of strength in core movements. For example, when practicing squats, start with squatting against the wall to find the feeling of strength in the back of the thighs and buttocks, and then add barbell plates. ； But if you already have a sports foundation of playing ball and cycling all year round, there is really no need to insist on the dead standard of "knees should not exceed the toes" that has long been falsified by sports medicine. As long as there is no sharp pain when exerting force, you can slowly increase the amount.

Oh, by the way, when many people mention prevention, the first thing they think of is warm-up. I have seen too many people who just follow the warm-up routine: they either follow the bloggers and do the warm-up exercises that are common to all the Internet for 10 minutes, or they just shake their arms and legs and get started, which is not suitable for the exercise to be done that day. For example, if you want to play badminton all afternoon today, the key point is to warm up the rotator cuff, ankle joint and core. What's the use of stretching the front of your thigh for a long time? Some people start running very fast right after warming up. Their heart rate suddenly jumps to 160, and the synovial fluid in the joint cavity has not yet been secreted. It is like starting an engine without oil in a cold start. Can hard grinding not hurt? If you really want the warm-up to be effective, you have to add 1-2 sets of special activation after the general warm-up: before playing volleyball, do 10 light-weight air swing smashes to find the feeling of force. Before practicing deadlifts, do two sets of small-weight hip hinges to find the feeling of force in the hips. It is much more effective than stretching muscles for 10 minutes.

Dynamic adjustment during exercise is more important. Many people have been "self-disciplined" for a long time. If they feel pain, they have to carry it hard. If they carry it, they will break through. This is really the first trigger of injury. There is also a consensus difference between different events: in the strength training circle, it is often said that "soreness increases pain and reduces numbness without training." However, endurance events such as long-distance running and cycling often cause "extreme" muscle soreness. At this time, if you push through it, you will enter a comfortable state, which is not a sign of injury. How to tell the difference? Here’s a trick I’ve been using for almost 10 years: If the pain is “sharp, fixed at a certain point, and hurts when you move”, such as a pin-pricking pain at a certain point on the outside of your knee when running, or a throbbing pain in your shoulder at a certain angle when lifting irons, then don’t hesitate to stop immediately, and don’t bet on your ligaments by “holding on a little longer.” ； If the entire muscle is sore and feels heavy when exerting force, it is basically normal fatigue. Just adjust the rhythm and change the method of exerting force. Last time, I took a novice friend to indoor rock climbing. When he climbed, his knuckles had sharp pains and he was still struggling. As a result, he developed tenosynovitis. It took him two months to dare to touch the equipment again, but he couldn't tell the difference between the two pains.

As for recovery after exercise, the controversy is even greater: some people say that 10 minutes of static stretching must be done immediately after exercise, otherwise lactic acid accumulation will cause injury.； Some people say that static stretching is useless and foam rolling is the right answer. The latest sports medicine research has actually given a relatively neutral conclusion: static stretching has a minimal effect on reducing delayed-onset soreness (the kind of pain that makes you so sore the next day that you can't walk downstairs after exercise). After exercising, walk slowly for a few minutes to lower the heart rate to about 1.2 times the resting level, and then use a foam roller to roll the tense muscles, which will have a much better relaxing effect. But if your joint mobility is poor, for example, it’s difficult to raise your arms after shoulder exercises, then there’s nothing wrong with doing a 2-minute static stretch. You don’t have to follow a certain school of thought.

Let me tell you a few thoughts about my own rehabilitation experience for so many years. The people I have seen who are most easily injured are not just newbies, but the kind of half-hearted people who have just practiced for two or three months and have some training results and then feel that they can do anything: either suddenly double the weight, or stay in the gym every day for a week without taking a break, thinking that they are young and can handle it. In fact, injury prevention is really not that fancy. You don’t need to memorize dozens of standard movements, and you don’t need to buy a cabinet of protective gear as a “talisman.” Spend an extra minute before each exercise to check your status: Did you stay up late yesterday? Have you had any knee discomfort recently? Which part of the exercise you are going to do today will make you most tired? When moving, pay more attention and listen to your body's signals. This is more effective than any professional teaching plan. If you really have persistent pain, don't carry it on. Don't search Baidu and blindly identify the symptoms. Find a regular sports rehabilitation practitioner. If a small problem turns into a chronic strain, then the gain will really outweigh the gain.