Hello everyone. Today’s article is a guest post from Andrew Salmon. Andrew is an Amazon featured freelance writer who writes on a number of products including health and fitness.
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Being active is essential to living well and feeling good and playing sports is a great way to maintain one’s fitness level. But exercise is not without its hazards. Here is a list of the top seven most common sports injuries.
1. Muscle Pull
This is the #1 most common sports injury because it can happen to almost any muscle in the body. A ‘pull’ occurs when some of the muscles fibres stretch and tear. Proper warm ups can help prevent these from happening.
2. Shin Splints
This painful injury occurs in the muscles near and around the shinbone. Shin splints are usually caused by running or jumping on hard surfaces, though simple overuse is also a cause.
3. Tennis Elbow
Improper technique while playing tennis over-stresses the forearm tendon or if the arm has atrophied due to disuse, this type of injury can occur. Strengthening the forearm muscles is the best treatment. Also taking lessons in the sport causing the injury will prevent it from re-occurring.
4. Runner’s Knee
The most common form of sports-related knee pain is runner’s knee and it is due to a misalignment of the kneecap in its groove where the kneecap pulls off to one side, wearing out the cartilage at the side of the knee. Strengthening the quadriceps (thigh) muscles will alleviate the problem.
5. Ankle Sprains
These can occur while exercising or stepping out of the car. Prevention is by means of merely strengthening the foot and ankle area by exercising the muscles and maintaining flexibility. However, once the injury occurs, one has to simply ride it out.
6. Lower Back Strain
Evolution hasn’t quite caught up with the fact that humans now walk upright rather than on all fours. Using four limbs to get around spreads stress along the entire length of the spine, whereas walking upright on two limbs localizes the majority of the stress on the lower back. Throw in sports-related activity and that stress increases dramatically. Strengthening the back and abdominal muscles reduces risk. Also stretching and flexibility are the remedy here.
7. Cramps
Everyone is familiar with this sports-related injury. And, although they can be debilitating, they are usually the easiest injury to treat as they are mostly caused by simple dehydration. The cure: drink lots of water while exercising. Cramps can also be caused by a lack of flexibility.
As you can see with most of the items on this list, a low level of overall physical fitness causes common injuries. Stretching and flexibility keeps the muscles ready and able to endure the demands put upon them by your sport of choice. Also, the best treatment is prevention. Always warm up and stretch before any form of exercise. These injuries are minor annoyances but can escalate over time and cause much more serious and debilitating injuries down the line.
Remember your body has to get you from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ for the rest of your life so it’s in your best interest to keep it free of break downs.
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Andrew Salmon is a freelance writer, who, in addition to writing on health and financial topics like disability insurance, is also a published author who has been featured on Amazon.
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