Factors of sports injuries
Sports injuries are related to many factors, some of them out of our control. Fortunately, working on the ones we can control will make a significant difference.
We can classify them into five main categories:
- Effort and recovery
- Biomechanical understanding
- The daily context
- Health status
- The diversity of practices
In this article, we are going to develop the first and most important one: effort and recovery. But first, let’s quickly talk about the others.
Biomechanical understanding
Biomechanics explores and analyzes the mechanical principles and properties as well as the ingenious and mysterious functioning of living organisms.
In sports, biomechanics understanding allows us to practice correctly without hurting ourselves and, amongst other things, always to improve the efficiency of our movements.
Daily Context
The daily context is the routine and the environment of the sportspeople. It is the state of his body outside of the sports practice.
This is the impact and difference between practicing sport once a week and the rest of the time sitting behind a desk or being very active physically every day.
Health status
Whether you have a preexisting condition, you are suffering from chronic disease, or the after-effects of a medical procedure, your health state is going to affect your ability to practice sports.
To what degree will depend on your health state and the type of sport you practice. The more extreme the sport is, the more crucial it is to have a good health state.
Diversity of practices
The more different sports your practice, the lesser chance you will have of getting injured. Why? The explanation is very simple: the more varied your sports practice is, the more your body learns different movements.
As your body becomes smarter, it automatically improves its ability to avoid injuries.
Effort and recovery
Easy to understand but neglected by most athletes, the effort and recovery category comprises 4 factors.
Muscle stretching
After practicing sport, a natural and normal phenomenon appears within 24 to 48 hours: muscle soreness.
This sign that your muscles have done a lot of work and need to repair themselves.
Once the muscles are repaired, the soreness fades, but residual muscle tension remains one thing the body can’t resolve by itself.
This is where muscle stretching comes in.
By stretching, you remove this residual muscle tension, bringing your muscles back to a harmonious state with a full range of motion.
Stretching regularly will prevent residual muscle tension from accumulating and increasing the risk of muscle tear, one of the most common sports injuries.
Sleep
During sleep, our body regenerates itself.
In the days following an intense physical effort, sleep is even more crucial because the body, in addition to the daily regeneration, must repair the micro injuries produced by the sport.
It is critical for anyone practicing sport to keep a sufficient quality and quantity of sleep.
Lacking sleep means lacking self-regeneration but not only. Sleep is also vital for mental awareness, which is essential to practicing safe sports.