What are sports-specific injuries?

Sports-specific injuries are types of injuries that are highly bound to the technical action characteristics of a specific sport and will only or have a high probability of happening to participants in that event. They are clearly different from ordinary sports strains and sprains.

The often referred to as "swimmer's shoulder", "tennis elbow", "runner's knee" and "jumper's knee" are actually typical sports-specific injuries, each of which corresponds to specific force-generating movements repeated repeatedly in the event. I have trained with the city badminton team for three months before. Most of the players who visited the team doctor's office suffered from pain on the outside of their elbows or inside their knees. Don't think it's because their movements are not standard. These children have been picking up their movements since they were ten years old. It is almost impossible to make mistakes in their power generation patterns. The problem lies in When hitting the ball in badminton, you need to repeatedly internally rotate the elbow joint to exert force. When stepping to save the ball, your knees have to bear 3-4 times the lateral pressure of your body weight. Over time, these two parts are more susceptible to wear and tear than other positions. If you switch to another player who practices table tennis, the same type of injury will rarely occur.

I have talked about this topic with friends from the sports medicine department and the old coach of the provincial team before. The opinions of the two sides are quite different: most doctors with professional backgrounds believe that as long as they warm up well, follow standard movements, control the amount of exercise, and strengthen strength training for weak muscle groups on a daily basis, special injuries can be completely avoided.； But an old coach who has led a professional team for almost 30 years does not see it that way. He said that the professional team practices for eight hours a day during the preparation period and repeats the same technical movements thousands of times. Even if the muscle strength can keep up, the wear and tear of bone joints, cartilage and soft tissue is irreversible. When it comes to the stage of striving for performance, almost no one can completely avoid the old injuries corresponding to the event. This is almost the "exclusive mark" of athletes in each event.

Don’t think that this is something that only professional athletes will encounter. Last year, I met an amateur who played wildball four times a week. He relied on his arms to swing the ball hard without using the strength of his waist and abdomen. After playing for only half a year, he developed lateral epicondylitis of the humerus, which is commonly known as badminton elbow. It was so painful that he had to twist a towel. This is a typical example of amateurs using the wrong force and triggering special injuries faster than professional players.

In fact, both professional teams and amateur circles are now exploring corresponding prevention methods. For example, those who play badminton should practice more forearm and core strength, those who swim should do more rotator cuff stabilization training, and those who run long-distance should pay attention to strengthening the calf muscles and ankle joints. Most people can completely reduce the risk to a very low level as long as they do not blindly rush and do not blindly change their movements. They do not have to dare to do their favorite events because of fear of injury.