Preventing Injury Through Exercise

The greatest tragedy to befall an athlete is to suffer from an injury. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 10,000 professional athletes and other sports competitors have sustained more than 2,000 injuries during training periods, practices and actual competitions in the last year[RPVA1] . Whenever they are injured, they can no longer continue training and have to give up joining a particular competition. The worst consequence is being permanently injured and unable to participate in any competition. Your best option to prevent sports injuries is to engage in quality exercise.

Get a Competent Trainer

To do this, work with a competent trainer. The parts of your body susceptible to common injuries are your hamstrings, lower back, quadriceps controlling the knees and shoulder joints. Strengthening exercises will be focused on these parts. For the hamstrings, possible exercises include Barbell Hip Thrusts, Box Squats, Eccentric Glute Hamstring Raises and Romanian Deadlifts. For the lower back, recommended exercises include Deficit Deadlift, Hyperextensions and Stiff Leg Good Morning Barbell Exercises. For the quadriceps controlling your knees one could doKnee Marching, Long Arcs, Quad Clenching, Short Arcs and Straight Leg Raise.For the shoulder joints, one could try Control Drills, Rotations, Stretches and Windmills.

Stretching is a good workout for your muscles that will make them flexible as you undergo the proper range of motion. Stretching is not just for ballet dancers or gymnasts; getting flexible muscles as a result has been found to be very valuable for athletes.

Injury prevention is also enhanced by core strength and stability. There are many exercises that your trainer will have you do for strength and stability. With a strong core, your spine will provide able support. You will be able to achieve the proper mechanics for bones and muscle while you do your sport. By all means, avoid unbalanced muscles in any part of your body. For instance, do not attempt to over-develop your quadriceps when your calves or hamstrings are still weak. This condition can cause knee pain or injury when you do lots of jumping or running.

With proper exercise, you minimize the chances of sports injury during training and actual competition.

Photo Credit: Rance Costa on flickr