Relief, Sport and Rehabilitation

Prevention of Sports Injuries

Playing sports is a very healthy activity that not only keeps us in good physical shape but also in excellent health. However, we must take into account certain tips or practices to prevent sports injuries. Sometimes, we may suffer an injury that could completely remove us from the world of sports, which is why it’s important to learn how to prevent them.

A sports injury refers to the damage that occurs in tissues as a result of practicing or improperly practicing a sport. Injuries occur when our tendons, joints, bones, and muscles endure excessive pressure. Below, you can find a list of different techniques that will help us prevent sports injuries:

Stay hydrated frequently.

Get a medical check-up before starting to train.

Start at the appropriate level according to your physical condition and experience in the specific sport you want to or are practicing.

Take at least one day off a week to rest.

Use the correct equipment: shin guards, padded neck and knee protectors, helmets… this will depend on the sport you practice, but make sure it’s quality equipment.

Perform warm-up exercises before starting your sports practice.

Don’t forget to stretch before and after each session: focus especially on those muscles where you’ve had an injury or those that will be under the most strain during the sport.

Take breaks, especially if you start to feel pain. In this case, stop immediately to avoid a more serious injury.

Most common sports injuries

By putting the above tips into practice, we will be protected against possible injuries. However, it is normal that we can be careless or that, for some other reason, we end up suffering an injury while practicing sports. We are now going to talk about the most frequent sports injuries that we can face:

• Sprains: the most frequent sports injuries, occurring in almost 50% of cases. This injury occurs when a ligament is torn due to poor sports practice. The most frequent are in the ankle, wrist and knee.
• Knee injuries: this type of injury mainly affects those who practice skiing and running or jogging. The most common types are iliotibial band syndrome and tendonitis. There are other more serious injuries such as cruciate ligaments or those affecting the cartilage.
• Leg cramps: they usually occur in the lower leg, but also in the foot and ankle. They are common in runners, especially those who do not wear the right shoes, run on hard surfaces or suffer from flat feet.
• Hamstring injuries: common especially in those who practice running sports. It is important to do exercises to strengthen the hamstrings as these types of injuries tend to occur.
• Quadriceps injuries: very painful injuries with a high degree of severity. These injuries occur when the muscle tears internally, known as an intramuscular tear. These tears affect both the muscle and the lining of the muscle.
• Elbow injuries: the injury known as “tennis elbow” can affect, as its name suggests, all those who play tennis or other racquet sports such as paddle tennis. This injury is caused by an overload in the muscles and tendons of the external part of the elbow due to an overexertion of the elbow joint.

Treatment and rehabilitation of sports injuries

The treatment of sports injuries depends largely on the type of tissue affected and the time elapsed since the injury. Less serious injuries can be resolved by rest, anti-inflammatory treatment and physiotherapy. On the other hand, more serious injuries may even require surgery.

At first it is recommended to protect the injury, that is, to prevent the internal bleeding that can produce a hematoma from getting out of control. To do this we will make use of bandages that facilitate the compression of the injury. It is also advisable to apply a lot of ice, since cold is a great treatment for sports injuries. We will keep the affected part of the body as elevated as possible and rest.

Some of the techniques used in the rehabilitation of sports injuries include:

• Physiotherapy: both in the prevention and treatment of injuries.
• Cryotherapy: ice massages, immersion baths, applications with cold jets…
• Functional bandage: to maintain the affected area in a state of relaxation by limiting movement.
• Electrotherapy: it is a way to restore tissues and their functions in a faster and more effective way.

At HerbiFeet we offer you a wide variety of products to prevent and treat sports injuries. Get yourself a sacrolumbar belt to help immobilize this area of the body.

Give yourself a joint massage using a good sports cream, which you can use before and after training. Also, our balm with essential oils provides immediate relief for both joints and muscles.

On the other hand, you have at your disposal a series of orthoses that will help you to immobilize, support or partially correct the movement of a joint. We have a short elbow brace to treat tennis elbow, all types of wrist guards wrist braces that will help you to immobilize the area, knee pads perfect for rehabilitation, as well as reinforced ankle braces. In this way we will be able to put our joints at rest, thus helping us to get better from a sports injury.

Remember to consult with your medical specialist, and with your podiatrist in the case of foot injuries, to obtain the recommended treatment in your particular case.

Recommended products