Sports Injury Prevention Clinic

The core role of the sports injury prevention clinic is to help you turn "treat after injury" into "prevent before injury occurs" - clinical data shows that 80% of common injuries in running, fitness, and ball sports can be avoided by adjusting movement patterns in advance, controlling training load, and intervening in weak muscle groups. There is no need to wait until the pain is so severe that you can't walk before you register.

I just received a 28-year-old man last week. In order to run the half marathon PB in the second half of the year, he increased his weekly running distance from 10 kilometers to 30 kilometers for three consecutive weeks. He was in pain so much that he had to hold on to the handrail when going down the stairs. He was diagnosed with iliotibial band friction syndrome. The first thing he said when he sat down was, "I think it's normal to have leg pain from running. I can just get over it and work up the intensity." Don't believe me. I met four people with this idea last week. One had a patellar joint disorder while dancing Pamela, one had a rotator cuff injury while playing badminton, while another had a rotator cuff injury by arching the back and deadlifting. They all thought that "the pain is just because they have practiced well", and they turned small problems into long-term problems.

What’s interesting is that the sports circles now have different opinions on prevention, and the quarrel is quite fierce. For example, the most common question about stretching is that one group says that static stretching must be done for 10 minutes before exercise to stretch the muscles so that they will not stretch; the other group directly publishes a paper saying that static stretching will temporarily reduce the explosive power of muscles, and pulling before strength training can easily lead to injuries due to unloading. Both sides are correct. When viewed clinically, if you are an office worker who has been sedentary all day and go to aerobics directly after get off work, your hamstrings, shoulders and neck are as tight as rubber bands. Doing static pulls for two or three minutes first is much more reliable than jumping right from the start. But if you are a veteran of weightlifting and powerlifting, static pulls before competition will indeed affect your sense of force. It is more appropriate to switch to dynamic high leg raises and shoulder circle activation. There is no absolutely correct method, it is only useful to adapt to your own physical condition.

Our clinic last year counted more than 1,200 newly diagnosed sports injury patients. If we really count, less than 20% were accidental injuries in confrontational sports, such as a sprained foot when playing basketball or a fracture after falling while skiing. The rest were all problems that could have been avoided. Nearly half are caused by novices who blindly increase their weight. For example, when they first go to the gym, they squat 100 kilograms like others, and after running for three days, they challenge a half-marathon. Another third are caused by wrong movement patterns that they do not notice. For example, they always buckle their knees in when doing aerobics, rely on their waists instead of their legs when doing deadlifts, and swing their arms without turning their waists when playing badminton. If they don’t feel it for a short time, it will hurt after two months.

I have also encountered this pitfall when I was practicing CrossFit. At that time, I felt that my core was stable, but I didn’t notice that I arched my back a little during the deadlift. After the pull, I felt that nothing was wrong. When I got up the next day, I couldn’t even pick up the toothbrush. I strained my erector spinae and was out for three weeks. Now when I explain movement patterns to patients, I always take out my own negative example first, which is much more effective than simply reading the textbook.

There is another controversial point: Can wearing protective gear prevent injuries? One group says that knee and wrist braces can support joints and reduce wear and tear; the other group says that wearing protective gear for a long time will make muscles dependent and make them more susceptible to injury. In fact, it depends on the situation. If you have just recovered from an injury, or you are playing highly confrontational sports such as basketball or football, wearing protective gear will definitely block a lot of accident risks; but if you usually wear knee pads every day for running or strength training, the muscles around your legs will not be exercised for a long time, but will become weaker and weaker. If you take off the protective gear and bump a little, you will be easily injured.

In fact, ordinary enthusiasts do not need to go through the kind of professional motor function screening that costs thousands. They can do three small tests at home: stand on one leg for 10 seconds without shaking, squat until the thigh is parallel to the ground without buckling the knee, straighten the leg and bend over to touch the toes. If you can't do anything, don't rush to high intensity, first fix the weak areas. For example, if you are unable to stand on one leg, practice more ankle strength, if you squat down and buckle your knees in, practice more hip muscles, and if you can't reach your toes, relax your hamstring muscles. Just a few simple things like this can avoid most sports injuries.

When the young man who ran the horse race came back for a review last week, he had reduced his weekly running distance to 15 kilometers, and added glute bridge and clam pose strength training twice a week. He said that his legs no longer hurt after running 5 kilometers. In fact, there are so many high-level theories. When it comes to exercise, don’t compete with your body. Take a break if you feel sore and swollen. Stop and adjust your movements if you feel pain. If you are really unsure, come to the clinic and ask. It’s better than regretting it when it hurts so much that you need surgery, right?