Injuries and Injury Prevention
All female athletes put their body through many unpleasantly rough workouts that are required for their sport but, many athletes especially females don’t know of any ways to recover from these hard and intensive workouts. As a result, many female athletes suffer from injuries that are caused by lack of the proper strength training and not the proper cool down in order to keep the body healthy and for a easier recovery. Many of these injuries are major and cause the athlete to not participate in the sport for months, maybe years. If the athletes knew how to take car of their bodies before and after a workout, it would help prevent career ending injuries. All athletes should do the proper strength training and warm up and cool down in order to restrain from injuries.
Sports can be very stressful and straining on the body. Injury prevention should be the main priority to keep the body healthy so the athlete can participate in the sport to their full ability. There are multiple ways to the keep the body from getting a serious injury. One of these ways is stretching and including a proper warm up and cool down to the athletes work out. Another way is drinking plenty of water before, during, and after a work out to keep the athletes body hydrated. An example of a good warm up before any sport participation or activity is to start of with some static stretches. Static stretches help the muscles get looser so the athlete does not pull a muscle during the activity. For the stretches to work to the maximum potential, each stretch must be held for a minimum of 15 seconds. After doing each static stretch, do a light jog or movement to get the body warm. Many times it works best if the athlete is brought to a light sweat. This process allows the body to get to a higher core temperature which also makes the muscles, ligaments, and tendons loose before the actual workout. Another example of a warm up is one that many professional athletes use to get their body temperature up. The athletes usually start with high knees, butt kicks, knee hugs, high kicks, and many other movements in order to be successful during their activity. Before a game be sure to drink plenty of water the day before the actual game. This allows the body to maintain a good temperature and also keep circulation and fluids in the body. This will keep your body hydrated throughout the game and keep you from getting an injury. An easy way to do this if you are a student athlete, is to take a water bottle to school and set a goal to drink a certain amount before the day is over. To be at your healthiest state during the activity, you must drink at least half of your body weight in ounces. These are all ways to help yourself from getting an injury that easily could have been prevented if the athlete only did a proper warm up.
The most common injuries seen in woman’s athletics are the hip flexor strain, ACL tear, shin splints, and most commonly the patellofemoral syndrome. The hip flexor strain is when your hip flexor, a muscle found on the hip bone, is pulled or torn. The hip flexor is a muscle that is used in every sport but, is easily injured. This injury may take six weeks or longer to heal but could be stopped with a simple stretch. The ACL tear is commonly seen in soccer and basketball because of the stress these sports put on the knees. The ACL tear is also found in women athletes more than male athletes because of the biomechanics of a female’s body. A few ways to tell if an athlete is suffering from an ACL tear is by the athlete explaining the sound of an audible “pop”. If the athlete did not hear a “pop” then the athlete will feel a shift in the joint instead. Many athletes who have suffered from the ACL tear will also feel as though their knee is giving out. Also lastly, the athlete will have severe pain in swelling in the joint. This tear requires surgery if the athlete wants to get back to playing but is a very long recovery. Shin splints occurs in many athletes who run consistently on hard surfaces. It is pain caused by overuse of the muscles and tendons along the shin bone. There is constant pain especially when the athlete runs and is very hard to stop the occurrence of shin splints, especially when the athlete is in-season. Patellofemoral syndrome is a condition that describes pain in the front of the knee due to damaged cartilage. Most of the time, the pain is increased while walking up stains and jumping. Each case of patellofemoral syndrome is different which causes a unique recovery for every athlete. Many athletes undergo physical therapy as well as anti-inflammatories. All of these injuries are either caused by lack of stretching properly and the lack of strength in the particular muscle or ligament. Ways to prevent most of these leg injuries is to have the athlete train year round to strengthen the part of the knee or leg that is weak. Making sure that athletes have the proper landing technique while jumping is also very important with preventing leg injuries along with bending at the knee and hip in order to reduce stress on the part that is injured. All of the examples above are very important for females athletes to be aware of because most of the injuries are more common for a female than a male. Overall, many injuries can be prevented if the athlete know how to take care of their body.
In order for athletes to be able to perform at their best is to make sure all athletes are put through the correct warm up and cool down before and after every activity. This will help especially female athletes to prevent the most common injuries they face during games. Having this knowledge will help the athletes know how to prevent injuries and help them realize when they are injured so they don’t injure themselves more.
-A’Nya Newton
