What are the preventive measures for sports injuries?

In essence, there is no universal prevention formula. The core is to follow your own physical condition. Don't rush to the schedule or blindly benchmark the amount of exercise of others. By doing a good job in body adaptation throughout the process, you can avoid more than 90% of non-accidental sports injuries. Last week, a young post-00s guy who just joined our running group was so jealous when he saw others running 100 kilometers a month that he didn't even understand the basic warm-up logic. He followed the old team members and rushed to the half marathon on the weekend. As soon as he ran 12 kilometers, he was so painful that he squatted on the side of the road and couldn't stand up. He was diagnosed with iliotibial band friction syndrome. He was lame for almost half a month and had to use crutches even at work. To put it bluntly, he didn't take the words "adapt to himself" seriously.

Speaking of this, some people must think that it is right for me to warm up honestly and according to the standard, right? There happens to be a controversy that has been going on in the sports field for a long time: one group insists that no matter what kind of exercise, the warm-up must take 10 minutes, and dynamic stretching, core activation, and cardiorespiratory awakening must not be missing. ； Another group has done clinical controlled trials and said that if you have done low-intensity activities for more than 15 minutes before exercise, such as commuting to the gym by bike or walking two stops to the stadium, then it only takes 3-5 minutes to specifically activate the muscle groups you want to train today. If you cram in the warm-up time, you will consume your physical energy in advance, and you will be more likely to get injured when you reach exhaustion in the second half of the exercise. I have personally tested it and it is true that sometimes walking for 20 minutes to the badminton hall, simply pressing down on the ankle, turning down the rotator cuff, and then playing is much better than warming up for 10 minutes with hard pulls until the second half of the leg is weak.

Warming up is just the first step. When it comes to the sports field, the most easily overlooked point of protection is not to bear the pain. I saw a girl doing deadlifts in the gym before. Her waist was already a little tight when she was pulling 40kg. My friend next to me started yelling, "You can definitely hit 60". When my mind got hot, I started to lift more weights. As soon as I pulled up, my waist slipped. I couldn't stand while holding on to the bar. I had to lie down for a whole week before I dared to bend down normally. Our muscles and ligaments are actually like rubber bands that are used repeatedly. It is okay to pull them to the limit occasionally, but if you continue to pull them when there are already signs of soreness and pain, it will be a matter of time before they are strained or torn. Don’t believe the nonsense that “pain means muscle growth”. Sharp stabbing pain and unilateral localized soreness are signals from the body to stop training. The risk of injury doubles if you carry it for one second longer.

As for recovery after exercise, there are now two different opinions. Some people think that you have to lie down after exercise to fully rest, while others insist on low-intensity active recovery, such as walking slowly for 20 minutes after leg training and rolling a foam roller for 10 minutes before going to bed. This can speed up lactic acid metabolism and reduce delayed onset soreness better than lying down. This can actually depend on your own condition. If you are so tired after exercising that you can't open your eyes, don't force yourself to relax. A good night's sleep is better than anything else. ； If it's just muscle soreness and no other discomfort, get up, take a few steps, and roll a foam roller. It will really be hard to get out of bed the next day.

To put it bluntly, the key to preventing sports injuries is not to compete with your own body, not to exercise just to post on Moments, and not to compete with others in strength. It is much more effective than the knee pads and waist pads you bought worth thousands of dollars.