Is Preventing Injury Possible?
So, is it possible to prevent all injuries in athletes?
Absolutely not!
I would love to say that by doing 1, 2, & 3 you will not get hurt...but no one can promise that! When people are active and play sports things hurt sometimes...and stuff happens! BUT....I will say that many overuse (and some traumatic) injuries can be prevented with just a little work! My main audience I talk to is competitive gymnasts (along with some CrossFitters & weight lifters)...but really this applies to all athletes!
I have had over 15 (I had to update this in 2023!) year of treating gymnasts/athletes as a PT and over 20 years (how is that possible! 🙈) of coaching movement. I also have had 6 different orthopedic surgeries during my athletic career...so I know what being injured is like from all sides! I want to help people avoid that...help them stay as healthy and happy as possible!
Here are a few genral things that can be focused on to help you stay at your very best:
Work the boring stuff! You know what is fun...gymnastics! Working harder skills (and if you are a weightlifter reading this..heavy lifts)...but it's really important to work all your smaller stabilizing muscles! This means routinely working exercises that might be a little more boring. They also won't likely feel the same as really hard strength work or conditioning...but that does not make them any less important! I have programs you can join to help with this!
Every body needs something different! In general stock conditioning/injury prevention programs are great to do, but will not address each individual athletes impairments and needs. Every single body is different. Some of us have really tight shoulders while others have shoulders that are quite gooey (really you could sub shoulders with hips/ankles/ backs...). So...the very best bet is to have a movement assessment by someone who knows your sport & has a good background in injuries to help you come up with a customized plan to target what you need. If you are interested in setting up a movement assessment with me, feel free to email me here!
Being strong is helpful! Being strong will always be helpful (as well as moving with good technique!) Kind of like point number 1- we also should not skip out on general strength and conditioning...and make sure we are doing those things correctly! Moving with incorrect form would actually set us up for more injuries! 😬 So, not only do we want to do our strength, but we wang to move well!
Rest and Recovery! This is really important! You need recovery days for both your body and your mind! Involvement in some type of activity (hanging out with friends, being crafty, reading, playing with your dogs) that is not sport related to enjoy! You also need to make sure you are recovering from harder days with good mobility and body work. And, probably the most important piece of rest and recovery....Sleep! You need 7-10 hours of sleep every night (the higher numbers go for younger athletes- especially during growing years!) Sleep is when your body can repair itself...so, commit to getting your rest in!
Are you eating enough? And enough of the right stuff?! This one is so important! I am not going to tell you what is enough and what you need to be eating...there are nutrition professionals who do that...I am going to recommend you check out this blog by my friend Kerry Blair RD,LDN,MPH. She is a Registered Dietitian who I am collaborating with on this blog post, and she also works with gymnasts! What I will tell you is I did not pay much attention to my nutrition when I was a gymnast (although I did really eat pretty well)...but as an adult athlete in CrossFit and Olympic Weightlifting I started playing with my nutrition ALOT...and it made a ton of difference in my performance and recovery. Maybe had I payed more attention younger my body would have held up better? 🤔
Will following all of these points guarantee a healthy season ( or off season?), nope. Like I said first, preventing all injury is not possible...but I can promise that working on all of these things will NOT hurt you. And more than likely it will also make you an athlete who performs better.
I would like to chat more about how I can help you!