Recommended Readings for Sports Injury Prevention

Sports Injury Prevention" is good.

Two years ago, I became obsessed with CrossFit. I practiced blindly for three months and developed acromion impingement. When I raised my arm to 60 degrees, I gasped in pain. I watched dozens of short video rehabilitation tutorials. After practicing for a week, the swelling became even worse. Later, I went to see a friend who is the team doctor of the provincial team. He did not give me an injection first. Instead, he gave me a copy of "Anatomy of Sports Injuries" and asked me to go home and read it. The most novice-friendly part of this book is that it has no threshold. It is full of color pictures. The force exerted by each muscle and each joint under different motion states is clearly marked. For example, what is acromion impingement? When you lift your arms, the rotator cuff muscles are weak, and the humerus pushes upwards, grinding against the bursa under the acromion. Only then did I realize that I always liked to hold my chest in my chest when I was doing chest presses, and my shoulders were not sinking. It was equivalent to grinding the bursa every time I pushed. It was strange that it didn't hurt.

In fact, there has always been controversy in the fitness circle. Some people say that novices do not need to learn anatomy and just follow the standard movements. Learning these will make it easy to overthink and dare not practice. I have a friend who holds this view. He has practiced bench pressing for two years without getting injured. This is actually true, but the prerequisite is that you can find a reliable coach to watch your movements throughout. If ordinary people like us just follow the videos and practice by ourselves, it is really better to spend two weeks reading this book. At least we can know which movements are wrong, which pain is normal soreness, and which pain is a sign of injury.

After you have practiced for a year or two and have understood the basic movement logic and have not made any low-level mistakes, then "Sports Injury Anatomy" is not enough. At this time, you can read "Athletes' Guide to Physical Care". This book was written by the chief physician of the U.S. Winter Olympic Team. It was originally used as a reference for professional athletes to prepare for competition. I relied on it when I was preparing for the half marathon last year. It won't tell you correct nonsense like "don't run too much", but will give you a clear calculation. The weekly running volume should not increase by more than 10%. During the preparation period, an adjustment week should be arranged every three weeks, and the running volume should be halved. I was stupid before. I went from running 20 kilometers per week to 38 kilometers, and my tibia hurt for half a month. After adjusting according to this principle, I didn't feel any pain again until I ran a half marathon.

Of course, I have also heard many people say that this book is "unrelevant". It contains a lot of content about season performance monitoring and blood lactate threshold testing. We ordinary people neither have the conditions nor the need to test. This is true, but as long as one-third of the content in a book can be used, I think it is worthwhile. For example, it talks about how to activate the deep core before strength training and how to reduce the stress on the knees when running. I have to go through it before practicing now.

As an aside, I have no less than 50 short videos on my phone that include "Three Must-Do Actions for Knee Pain" and "Collection of Lumbar Acute Rehabilitation". I dare not do any of them when it really hurts. Why? Because most short videos will not tell you the premise: ice application and immobilization are required within 72 hours of an acute strain. If you follow the rehabilitation exercises, it will only become more swollen as you practice. ； The rehabilitation procedures for patellar chondromalacia and meniscus injury are completely different, and confusion may only aggravate the situation. If you really want to understand these underlying logics, or even want to get a rehabilitation-related certificate, or become a fitness instructor, then just read "Handbook of Sports Medicine and Science: Sports Injury Prevention". This is currently a classic textbook recognized in the field of sports medicine around the world. All rehabilitation programs are followed by more than a dozen documents to support it, which makes it highly professional. Of course, I have to be honest. This book is very thick, full of data and professional terms. Ordinary people will feel sleepy after turning two pages. If you just go for a run or do some exercise, there is really no need to spend this unnecessary money. The first two books are enough.

Finally, I forgot to mention a free treasure. The "Popular Sports Science and Fitness Instruction Manual" can be downloaded from the official website of the State Sports General Administration. It is especially suitable for elders who usually dance square dances and do Tai Chi, or ordinary people who usually do not exercise much. It talks about how to choose sports shoes, how to deal with sprains, and how to deal with sprains. What kind of exercises are suitable for the same age group are all common language. I saved them for my mother on her tablet. Last time she twisted her foot while dancing in the square. I wanted to rub it the old way to activate blood circulation. After reading the manual, I realized that I need to apply ice and apply pressure first. The swelling subsided in three days. It is much more practical than the various health books I bought her before.

To be honest, I have been through a lot of traps over the years and bought many so-called "zero-injury fitness" books, which were all eye-catching gimmicks. Looking back now, these are the only ones that I can really use. But in the final analysis, no book is better than paying more attention when you practice. Don't bear the pain and push the weight. Don't follow the bloggers to blindly challenge difficult movements. The book only helps you avoid pitfalls. If you really want to prevent injuries, you still have to understand the temperament of your body while practicing, right?