What does sports injury prevention measures include?

Essentially, the prevention of sports injuries is a full chain of adaptive actions centered on your own athletic level and event characteristics, covering pre-exercise assessment and preparation, in-exercise risk avoidance, and post-exercise recovery adjustments. There is no universal standard answer, and all measures must be adjusted based on your own actual situation to be effective.

Let me tell you something I encountered last week. A young man who just joined the community running group had a track and field background when he was in school. He followed us to run a half-marathon. He did not evaluate his current endurance level in advance and just shook his arms casually during the warm-up. He was still wearing the old shoes that he usually goes shopping for. His foot sprained after running for 12 kilometers. There were two big blood blisters on the soles of his feet. He took a rest for less than half a month. This is a typical example of not doing everything right.

Many people's understanding of prevention is still limited to "stretching before exercising", but there is actually quite a lot of controversy about stretching on the Internet. One group believes that dynamic stretching must be done before exercising. Static stretching will reduce muscle explosiveness and make it easier to get injured in strength training and explosive events.； The other group says that they have been practicing yoga for more than ten years and do 10 minutes of static stretching before every class, and have never had any problems. In fact, both statements are correct. The key is to adapt to the event you want to do. If you are aiming for a squat PR, it is easy to lose strength by statically stretching the quadriceps 10 minutes in advance. If you are doing soothing programs such as yin yoga, dynamic jumping for a long time is not necessary.

Don't think that everything will be fine if you have prepared well in advance. Perception during exercise is more important than anything else. A while ago, there was a girl in the gym who was practicing hip thrusts. She was so exhausted in the last set that her movements were deformed. She insisted on adding 5 kilograms to improve the score. As soon as she exerted herself, her waist flashed. She lay down for two whole weeks before she dared to move slowly. It was really unnecessary. We ordinary people do not have to exercise professionally. We should stop as soon as the movements become deformed, which is more effective than any protective gear. When it comes to protective gear, many people think that only novices should wear it. I know an old man who has played amateur basketball for 15 years. He sprained his ankle three times when he was young. Now he must wear an ankle brace every time he plays. He said that wearing it on a daily basis feels cumbersome. If you really step on someone else's foot, it can save you 80% of the pain, but it is not an IQ tax.

There are also many people who tend to ignore the recovery process after exercise, thinking that it is over once they practice and play. In fact, many chronic strain injuries are not caused by an acute sprain at all, but are caused by long-term fatigue. Last month, a friend who had been playing amateur badminton for 8 years came to me and said that his elbow hurt so much that he couldn't lift it up. I checked that it was tennis elbow. After asking, I found out that he would put his racket away after playing every time and never relax the muscles of his forearm. Over time, the fascial adhesion and inflammation accumulated, and he couldn't even unscrew the mineral water bottle due to the pain. To put it bluntly, your body is like a car that has been driven at home for several years. You need to warm up the car before driving it, don’t drive it too hard while driving it, and you need to maintain it regularly after driving it, otherwise it will be taken away from you one day.

All in all, the most core preventive measures are actually to not compete with your body, accept your current level to gradually increase, and don't rush to an intensity that exceeds your ability when your brain gets hot. Most sports injuries can actually be avoided.