Basic tips for sports injury prevention include

Action pattern calibration, load dynamic adjustment, specialized warm-up and cool-down, targeted reinforcement of weak links, and real-time body signal perception. All seemingly diverse prevention methods are essentially an extension of these five core logics. There are no shortcuts, and there is no universal solution that “prevents all injuries with one move”.

I met a young girl who had just graduated from a running group two years ago. In order to prepare for her first half-marathon, she followed the "16-week zero-based clearance plan" I searched on the Internet. She obviously had to stop several times while running 5 kilometers last week, so she gritted her teeth and increased the distance to 12 kilometers this week. As a result, by the 8th week, she developed inflammation in her iliotibial band. She even hurt when going down stairs. It took her three months to slowly resume running. In fact, this is a typical failure to understand the logic of "load dynamic adjustment" - the standardized plans on the Internet are made for the "average exerciser" calculated by big data, and are not tailor-made for you. There is no unified conclusion in the field of exercise physiology. One group insists on the "golden principle" that weekly load increments should not exceed 10%, while the other group believes that the tolerance of different groups of people is very different. Strength enthusiasts with basic training can even tolerate 20% weekly increments. The core is not the card value at all, but your own body feedback. There is no absolute standard.

Don't think that you can get injured only by running more and adding more weight. If you don't move correctly, you can make mistakes even if you dance square dance. Last time I was walking in the community park, I saw a group of aunties doing aerobics. One of them always buckled her knees inward when she stood down. I went up to remind her a few times and they thought I was nosy. But less than a month later, I saw her sitting on the side with a knee brace. She said that she went to the hospital to check that it was patellar chondromalacia, and the doctor told her not to dance for three months. Regarding the calibration of movement patterns, there are also differences in the fitness circle. The CrossFit system advocates that you first master the standard movement patterns and then increase the intensity. However, many powerlifting veterans who have been in the gym for more than ten years feel that "whatever suits them is right." As long as the force is exerted smoothly and there is no tingling sensation, there is no need to completely stick to the knee angles and back curvatures in the textbooks. When I teach novices myself, I usually make a compromise. I first provide a safe reference frame, and then adjust it according to each person's joint mobility. For example, if a person with naturally narrow hips and poor ankle flexibility squats, there is no need to insist that the knees do not exceed the toes at all, but it will easily strain the waist.

When it comes to warm-up and cool-down, it is the hardest hit area. Many people still think that warm-up is just a matter of running around the playground twice or pressing their legs for a few minutes. To be honest, it’s not true. If you go to play badminton, what’s the use of just running two laps? The joints used in playing, such as shoulders, wrists, hips, and ankles, are not activated at all, and it is especially easy to get injured when smashing. When I was playing amateur badminton before, I saw an older brother who found it troublesome to warm up and said that he couldn't use this routine every day. He pulled his rotator cuff on the first jump shot and quit the game with his hands covered. Even the registration fee was wasted. There are even greater differences in warm-up styles. Track and field teams are generally used to doing low-intensity aerobic running until they are slightly sweaty, and then do dynamic stretching to open the joints. However, many people in the powerlifting circle just do empty bars and light weight sets to gradually activate, even skipping the aerobic step. I have tried both. As long as it is adapted to the sports you want to do, the effect is really not much different. There is no need to worry about which one is "the most scientific". The same goes for cooling down. Some people like to statically stretch for ten minutes, some like to roll tight muscles with a foam roller, and some even cool down by taking a walk for a few minutes. As long as the heart rate can be lowered and the muscle tension is relieved, it's no problem.

Another point that is rarely mentioned is the strengthening of weak links. Many people always say that they are "easy to injure their physique." If they hurt their knees after running for two steps and sprain their feet after jumping after two steps, in fact, it is not a physical problem. Most of them are due to weak local stabilizing muscles. I once had a student who always sprained his ankle while playing basketball. When it was severe, the sprain occurred three times a year. Later, I asked him to sprain his ankle three times a week and spend 15 minutes each time practicing standing on one foot and resisting internal and external rotation of the ankle joint. After practicing for two months, he returned to playing basketball and never sprained his ankle again. There is nothing controversial about this, but the weak links in different sports are different. Running focuses on improving the stability of the hips, knees and ankles, and playing badminton focuses on strengthening the shoulders and knees. When people who sit at desks for a long time exercise, the first thing they need to strengthen is the upper back and core. Otherwise, they will complain of shoulder and back pain after practicing twice. This is too normal.

The most easily overlooked thing is the perception of body signals. Many novices believe that "pain means they have practiced well" and "no pain no gain", which is really a fatal misunderstanding. It is normal for muscles to be sore during exercise, which is the feeling of lactic acid accumulation. However, if there is a sharp sting, joint snapping and pain, or the pain is so painful that you cannot lift your hands or walk normally when you wake up the next day, it is definitely a sign of injury and you must stop immediately. I had experienced this pitfall when I was practicing deadlifts before. During the last set of pulls, I suddenly felt a stabbing pain in my waist. At that time, I felt that the endurance was over, and the deadlift was over. As a result, the small joints were disordered, and the pain lasted for almost a month, even sitting for a long time was uncomfortable. To be honest, being able to accurately distinguish "normal soreness" and "injury signals" is the biggest difference between veteran players and novices. Don't think that you are lazy if you stop. If you are really injured and lie down for several months, all the previous training will be lost, and the gain will not be worth the loss.

Oh, by the way, one last word about protective gear. Many people think that wearing knee pads and wrist pads will prevent injuries. They really think too much. Protective gear is only an auxiliary. If you move poorly and overload, no matter how expensive the protective gear is, it will not prevent injuries. Don’t misunderstand the priorities.