All Athletes Hate?Injuries

What athletes dread most are injuries; so they do everything they can to avoid them. However, when they do occur, they develop a simple goal: to get back to training. With that in mind, they take the advice of professionals, usually with a healthy dose of scepticism.

When you’re a hammer, everything is a nail.

The above is an old saying. It applies to many medical professionals.

GPs write prescriptions. They love writing prescriptions. They never met a problem that couldn’t be solved with a quick swoosh of the pen across their prescription pads.

Surgeons perform surgery. They love doing surgery. It’s what they do best. It’s rare to meet a surgeon who can resist the tendency to perform surgery on any patient.

Biokintecists, kinesiologists and athletic trainers don’t get to write prescriptions. They’re not allowed to. They don’t get to cut people open or perform surgery. They’re not allowed to. And so, they focus on doing whatever they can to help their clients without drugs and surgery. This means exercise and nutrition.

In general, athletes know surgery and injections are short-term solutions. The athletes with long careers prefer rehab based on exercise and nutrition to prescriptions and surgery. Those are the last options, not the first.

Don’t Feel Bad If You Get Injured.

I’ve been a professional Biokineticist my whole life. I know how to use the body properly. And yet, as an athlete who has competed in Olympic weightlifting at the international level, I’ve still had plenty of injuries. If you really want to know about it, the first thing you’ll want to know is what happened to my elbow. I was having a good competition until I hit my last Snatch when disaster struck and I narrowly missed dislocating my elbow.

Like most injuries, it was manageable, and I competed again a few months later.

Daily, I remind people to look after themselves and seek ways to improve their bodies without injuring themselves. Part of avoiding injuries is to use less effort to make movements more effortless and more fluid.

Most avoidable injuries occur when we train too hard and stop paying attention to our movements. For example, in the past ten days, I’ve helped two guys with avoidable injuries from Jiu-jitsu, two lower back strains from doing stupid things due to fatigue, a Tennis elbow and many desk jockey-related neck shoulder injuries from over sitting.

So, what do to do when you are injured?

Find out what is causing your problem from a sports injury specialist such as a Biokineticist, Kinesiologist or athletic trainer who specialises in sports injuries. In this instance, skip your general practitioner.

Although most injuries can are easily treatable, with the right approach. Yet we often think it is the end of the world when we get injured, leading us down the doctor google drainpipe and into delayed treatment.

One of the Jiu-jitsu guys had many medical tests done with non-professionals, eventually coming to me for a consultation. We found a simple grade-one tear and started a straightforward three-week rehabilitation program.

Find a way to train with, around and through an injury without causing further damage.

"It is good to know pain often doesn’t reflect the amount of damage you have caused. Often stopping when you experience pain diminishes most, if not all of the damage you could have done."

We avoid damaging an injured knee by training the non-injured leg for the nervous adaptation and working around the knee by training the injured side’s hip and groin areas. We may be able to do walking or climbing on low stairs on an injured knee.

Another option is to do some non-specific movements, such as swimming or riding a bicycle, while the knee is recovering.

Make sure you are working on healing the injury and not just masking the pain.

Would you just take painkillers for a broken arm or have it reset?

One of the keys to healing is to make sure you don’t create a situation where you might re-injure yourself. Overuse of injuries to the tendons, such as Tennis Elbow and Achilles Tendonitis, are particularly prone to re-injury and, consequently, require more extended periods to recover.

For example, a cortisone injection into our Jiu-jitsu friends’ knee will mask the pain but prevent complete healing, creating a situation in which he reinjures himself, potentially worse than before.

Lastly, don’t panic. Figure out your healing plan and stick to it.

Know how long it may take to heal and what the risks are when you re-enter full training.

Our Jiu-jitsu friend had a competition in 7 weeks, which we could accommodate by working on technique and fitness for two weeks. After which, we proceeded to controlled simulations and full training while strengthening the knee.

Double down on your nutrition.

Injuries need good food and adequate micronutrients to facilitate healing. Eat enough protein and take additional supplements, such as Turmeric and Omega 3, to reduce inflammation and collagen to help tendon and bone healing.

Adjust your intake to match the reduced activity levels, and don’t follow idiotic diets. Avoid chemical and fat-laden foods such as burgers and chips, which lead to increased inflammation in the body, which retards healing.

The best physician in the world

There’s an emotional appeal to radical solutions like prescriptions and surgery. If you’re spending a ton of money and getting the big guns out, it can feel like you’re getting the best care. And yet, the best physician out there is your own body. Nothing will heal your body better than itself. Our job is to help it do its job by providing the exercise and nutrition it needs to repair itself.

Just William