Injuries: My Best Advice on Sports Injuries

On Injuries from Stadion Publishing

Injuries: My Best Advice on Sports Injuries
by Thomas Kurz

Information on this Web page is for educational use only, and is not intended as medical advice.
Every attempt has been made for accuracy, but none is guaranteed.
If you have any serious health concerns, you should always check with your health care practitioner
before treating yourself or others.
Always consult a physician before beginning or changing any fitness program.

Many people write to me with questions that can be summed
up thus: I have a boo-boo . . . I have overdone my exercises . . .
I have torn this or broken that . . . what should I do now? Being
polite I answer to this effect: I think you shouldn't be doing it,
but now that you have done it, you should see a doctor. I have no
clue why they think it makes sense to ask what to do of someone who
has never seen them and who is not a physician but a physical education
teacher. The best I know about treating injuries is this: Look for
the best specialist you can find, and do not bother with people who
do not come across as competent and fully committed to doing the best
that can be done. Then follow the doctor's orders without second-guessing.
A good injury specialist can tell you in advance how your symptoms
will change over time as you heal, when you will feel improvement,
and how long it will take for full recovery. One more thing: Make
sure the doctor understands your sport—what you do in a contest
and in your typical exercises, against what resistance, and what your
training regimen is. My hard-earned experience taught me to trust
only doctors who know my sport (preferably who did it competitively
or are team doctors) or at least watch it and can intelligently discuss
its demands and injury potential.

I reiterate the above in the following three points:

1. Go to a good physician and not to a golf player who withstood the
hardship of medical school—not to become a skilled and caring
physician but to have the prestige and the lifestyle of an M.D.

2. If a doctor cannot tell accurately what you will feel and be able
to do at all stages of healing and rehabilitation, go to another one.

3. Follow the good doctor's treatment to the letter.

Most of the questions below are from people who either did not train
right and got injured or after the injury did not follow the common-sense
advice given above.

Question: I had a groin and hamstring pull that still bothers me.
I would like to improve my flexibility, form, sparring ability, and
balance in my spinning kicks. What are your suggestions?

Answer: Your objectives of improving flexibility, form, and sparring
ability all depend on first properly treating your injuries. Before
your hamstring and groin muscles are back in excellent working order,
no other work can be done. (You need to see an Applied Kinesiologist,
or a Muscle Activation Techniques specialist, or a Sports Chiropractor).
After successful treatment, you may start working on strength and
flexibility according to the book Stretching Scientifically
and the DVD Secrets of Stretching. Develop balance in spinning
kicks by performing them at a low (below knee) target (initially imaginary,
then soft, which will allow kicking and spinning through it). To strengthen
your legs and prevent hamstring and groin injuries, do deadlifts and
squats.

Question: On page 63 of Stretching Scientifically (fourth edition)
you state that people who experience knee problems should do strength
exercises. What are these strength exercises?

Answer: Squats and deadlifts.

Question: Although the book Stretching Scientifically and the
DVD Secrets of Stretching go into depth about stretching, I
found that they did not fully explain the stretches to be performed
by those who suffer from weak knees. What strength exercises will
strengthen the muscles that stabilize the knee?

Answer: If your knees hurt when you do a stretch, change it so your
knee bears less or no weight. For example, in hamstring or adductor
stretches leading to a front or side split, place the lower end of
your thigh on the chair or on any support. If bending your knees is
not a problem, you may do the last exercise shown on page 82 of
Stretching Scientifically.

The strength exercises that stabilize the knee are all those that
affect muscles that originate above and attach below the knee joint.
These exercises are squats, step-ups, deadlifts, and good mornings.
If you cannot do these exercises because your knees were injured,
then you can do isometric tensions with your knees held at angles
at which you do not feel pain.

Sign up to be notified of new articles on injuries and training as soon as they are posted! (Your email address is safe with us. It won't be sold or given to any other company.)

Your Email address:
Interested—Yes or No:
Please tell us if you find this article useful, and what other injuries would you like to learn about:

Information on the injury prevention, diagnosis, and treatment provided on this site is for educational use only, and is not intended as medical advice. Every attempt has been made for accuracy, but none is guaranteed. If you have any serious health concerns, you should always check with your health care practitioner before treating yourself or others.

© 2009 by Stadion Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved. This internet site is protected by copyright. Any distribution or duplication of any of its content (text or images) without written permission from Stadion Publishing Co., Inc. is prohibited by law.