Five Common Sports Injuries and How to Avoid Them
It’s no secret that exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. If you are an adult human (aged 18 to 65), WHO recommends that you get 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise a week in order to reduce your risk of depression and non-communicable diseases, boost your bone health, and improve your cardiorespiratory and muscle fitness.
If you’re inspired to add a new sport to your life this fall, good for you! You’ll enjoy a whole heap of health benefits. Make sure those benefits aren’t accompanied by injuries by doing a bit of planning before you start. “It’s good to be aware of common injuries in your sport and strengthen your muscles accordingly,” advises Beijing United Family Hospital (BJU) Physiotherapist Ying Swee Ong. Here, we’ve broken down some of the more common injuries in popular sports and explained how you can avoid them.
Ball sports
Playing a sport with a team can be immense fun – a great way to relieve stress and add a social element to your life while you exercise. Ball sports often also involve bursts of fast running, the need to change direction quickly, and risk of injury from colliding with other people. “In soccer and basketball, knee and ankle injuries are seen most often,” said Ying Swee. “In soccer, there are a lot of ACL injuries. That’s the ligament in the knee. In contact sports, if someone hits you in the knee while your leg is on the ground, then your ACL can tear. It happens in other sports too.” So, what’s a budding soccer or basketball enthusiast to do to keep their knees healthy? “For that, having strong muscles will help,” says Ying Swee.
Running
If this crisp, fall weather doesn’t have you itching to spend time outdoors, we don’t know what will. Once you get a nice pair of running shoes and are ready to hit the pavement, make sure you ease into things by following these tips.
Runners often come to Ying Swee after suffering an overuse injury. “In running, it’s often the knee,” she says. If you’re generally healthy, there’s no reason you shouldn’t run. It is, however, important that you build some key muscles first in order to protect your knees. “It’s very important to strengthen the core muscles, which a lot of people ignore," says Ying Swee. "If you’re not stable there, there will be extra movements everywhere else. That leads to more friction, more inflammation, and more injury,” she says.
Ying Swee further warns that some people may still get injured even if they have a six pack and great core strength. “If you have knee pain and you’ve done treatments just on your knee and it’s not helping, then you want to look elsewhere. It might be that you have flat feet, and that is affecting the alignment of your knee or hip, and that might cause back pain as well." If flat feet is an issue for you, you can get custom insoles from BJU's foot specialists.
Cycling
Chances are you already own a bike or have credit in a share bike scheme like Mobike or Ofo. Biking around the city is a healthy, economical way to get around. If you need more reasons to do it, read this!
Now you’re on board with how great cycling is, and are maybe excited enough to do it recreationally, get smart about doing it injury-free. “In cycling, people get a lot of frontal knee pain from pedaling. Like tendonitis from doing too much repetitive pushing,” says Ying Swee. Not sure how frontal knee pain might work? BJU Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Jike Lu goes into detail here. Avoid pain by making sure your leg muscles are strong enough to allow your knee to move properly during exercise. If you do start getting pain in your knee, see your physiotherapist or orthopedic surgeon.
“Another injury in cycling is back pain from bending over a lot, depending on what kind of bicycle you have.” To prevent back pain, make sure your bike is properly adjusted to fit you before riding for long distances on it.
Hiking
Because Beijing is so big and sprawling, you may feel eternally trapped in a concrete jungle with no opportunities to hike and be in nature. It’s very easy to forget that we’re only a short drive from the Great Wall of China and all kinds of beautiful mountains that are now covered with crimson and golden leaves.
“In hiking, knee injuries are common, especially when going downhill. Going up is more about power and going down is more about control, so you actually feel your knees more when you come down,” says Ying Swee. To prevent this pain, strengthen your leg muscles and stretch properly after you finish your hike.
Ying Swee also advises getting the right gear for hiking, including boots that protect your ankles from sprains and a good backpack. Just don’t carry too much stuff on your back! “If you’re used to only carrying 2 kg, you shouldn’t suddenly carry 10 on a hike." To avoid back issues, avoid carrying more than double the weight you would usually carry. You should also adjust your straps so as to avoid injury. “A lot of people carry their backpacks too low, and they should be higher” she warns.
Swimming
Because it’s so low-impact, swimming is great for people who are overweight, recovering from injuries, or otherwise need to make sure they don’t put too much strain on their joints. However, it is still possible to get injured without impact. “For swimming, shoulder injuries happen,” says Ying Swee. “Especially with freestyle, it’s a lot of repetition. It may cause some impingement. Having an instructor to teach you proper form is very important.” Once you have your technique down, just keep swimming!
Ying Swee Ong is a New-Zealand-trained Physiotherapist. She speaks English, Malay, and Mandarin. If you wish to make an appointment with her or any of our other specialists, please call the BJU Service Center at 4008-919191.
Not sure what your physiotherapist can do if you get injured?Read Ying Swee's guide to the discipline.
Want to learn some more general tips for getting into exercising without injuring yourself? Ying Swee dives deep here.
Keen to get into cycling this fall? Do it! Just make sure you do it safely.