In general, listen to your body, and do your best to distinguish good pain (general fatigue) from the bad (jolting or dull pains, excessive fatigue). Struggling to do those last couple reps might seem like a good idea in the short term, but it could ruin your progress in the long run with a damaging and lingering injury.
With the input of Dr. Michael Camp of MyCompetitivelife.com, here’s a list of ten of the most common sports injuries you’ll want to avoid. Be conscious of them as you play or work out, as any one of them will throw a huge wrench in your training – not to mention the pain that goes with it.
Causes: A regimen that includes a lot of running and/or sprinting is often the culprit. Pair that with other factors like having naturally flat feet or using poor footwear that doesn’t provide enough support and you have a recipe for disaster. Other factors can include obesity, trauma or simply being on your feet a lot – hence the reason it was once called “policeman’s heel.”
Rehab Tips: Unfortunately, plantar fasciitis won’t go away overnight. It’s a gradual process and you have to be patient with it. Camp suggests rolling the arch of your foot over a golf ball, frozen water bottle or rolling pin for five minutes at a time to stretch out the strained tendon. Wearing a splint at night from a podiatrist, changing sneakers every two months, wearing thicker socks and stretching your Achilles should also help get you back to being comfortable on your feet.
Rehab Tips: Camp suggests the RICE method – rest, ice, compression and elevation – to effectively deal with ankle sprains. Once pain reduces, start back riding on a stationery bike, then move on to static balancing exercises while also strengthening the quads, hamstrings and glutes to increase ankle stability. He suggests light plyometrics before making a return to regular activity. Returning to your regular routine early from an ankle sprain just puts you at greater risk of suffering from another one, which could be even more painful and damaging to your ankle ligaments.
Causes: According to Camp, most ACL strains can be attributed to sudden deceleration, like trying to stop on a dime and cut in another direction, or from hyperextension of the knee or pivoting in place. Several sports regularly bring sources of stress like this down on the ACL, so if you’re not quite prepared for the fitness it takes to play a sport like basketball or soccer, you could put yourself at risk by throwing yourself out there.
Rehab Tips: Camp says your top priority needs to be strengthening your hamstrings. Building up your quads and glutes is also important. He says that active recovery should start with “heel slides with a weight, straight leg raises in various positions… side stepping with a resistance band and [various] hamstring exercises.”
Rehab Tips: Camp says that a foam roller is a must for the muscle’s recovery. After getting out those kinks, move on to exercises like straight leg raises, glute strengthening with clam shells, resisted side stepping and static lunges, moving up to walking lunges with progress.
Rehab Tips: Camp says a big part of recovery from hamstring injuries is making sure to do exercises that rebuild muscle instead of scar tissue, effectively preventing re-injury. The active rehabilitation process starts with isometric exercises that contract the muscles but don’t move the joints, then moves onto exercise with light weights before starting with more strenuous exercise to steadily return to pre-injury health, and hopefully with some extra strength to prevent future problems.
Causes: Hip bursitis is common in older individuals, but it also afflicts very active people on the younger side. Although you can get it from a hard impact to the hip, in many cases, it’s yet another example of an overuse injury, coming about from activities like running, cycling or walking long distances.
Rehab Tips: “Improving strength and coordination in the buttock and hip muscles enables the femur to move in the socket smoothly and can help reduce friction on the bursa,” Camp says.
Rehab Tips: There are several things you can do to stabilize your back after a bout of pain hinders you. If it feels serious, see the doctor, Camp says, then when you’re able, get back to exercising by working your glutes, hamstrings and core. Spinal mobility exercises like cat/camel and open book, planks and proper technique and position in various activities are all necessary to avoid further back problems.
Rehab Tips: First and foremost, start with rest. According to Camp, it’s important to let the muscles and tendons heal on their own, and exercises to get your arm back in working form involve strengthening the opposing muscles by doing a series of different forearm workout routines.