Injuries can occur every day – on the field, in the gym, in the workplace or even carrying out chores at home – but in some cases, the resulting pain and time on the sidelines could have been avoided.
In this blog, we discuss injury prevention strategies which may help to decrease your risk of injury from occurring in the first place.
And you don’t need to be a professional athlete to benefit from personalised injury prevention exercises and advice from a trusted professional at North West Physiotherapy.
Would you like to find out more? Keep reading or make an appointment at one of our Brisbane clinics here.
6 Injury Prevention Strategies
Being injured can stop you from doing what you love, but what if you could minimise your chance of sustaining an injury?
Here are some of the best ways to look after yourself and reduce that risk:
- Strengthen your Body
Build your body’s tolerance to movement through a gradual strengthening program.
- Maintain a Healthy Diet
Ensure that you are getting enough calories and nutrients to fuel your exercise and help you to recover after a workout.
- Stretching/Activation
Before you exercise, perform dynamic activation exercises to get your muscles warmed up and primed to get the most out of your workout.
When you have finished your workout, spend approximately 10 to 20 minutes stretching your muscles. This can help prevent muscles from tightening up.
- Regular Check-ups
Have you had a significant injury in the past? If so, regular check-ups with your treating physio can help pick up injuries before they happen.
- Allow time for Recovery
Giving your body the time to rest and recover after a big event or exercise session is also important. Some ways to aid recovery can include massage, NormaTec (compression) boots, meditation and foam rolling.
At North West Physiotherapy, our Nundah clinic offers a dedicated recovery room with access to Normatec boots, massage guns, vibrating foam rollers and trigger ball.
- Acute Injury Assessment and Management
Seek professional advice to identify and manage niggling injuries early and before they become more serious.
How a Physio Assesses Risk of Injury
Physiotherapists assess the chances of injury by identifying task-specific risks, as well as analysing patient biomechanics and a person’s injury history.
- Task-specific injury risk:
There are many different causes of an injury and some tasks might result in a higher risk of injury development.
Firstly, we look at and understand what the task requirements are, and how they may cause an injury.
A physiotherapist will also analyse the task to understand the forces and loading with anatomical considerations.
In doing this they can identify structures that may be at risk of injury prior to its development.
- Patient biomechanics:
Patient biomechanics can influence abnormal force generation and thus lead to injury.
The body is excellent at adapting to change over time, however quick changes can cause an increased structural stress causing pain.
An understanding of patient biomechanics can flag any abnormal patterns which might be a precursor to greater issues.
Physiotherapists can use this as an opportunity to not only reduce injury risk but improve efficiency.
- Injury History:
Knowing patient history is an important step to understand any underlying conditions and how they might affect future injury.
Injury Prevention and Physio: Who Can Benefit
If you’ve had a significant injury in the past, you sit at a desk all day at work, or you enjoy playing sport, you can benefit from injury prevention services.
For athletes, specific prehab or injury prevention services can be particularly beneficial before and during competition, as these services help to mitigate sport-specific risk before they occur. Plus, they can ensure you keep playing stronger and longer than you had before.
Injury prevention services can be used in the workplace as well. One of the most common workplace injuries is lower back pain with one cause being prolonged postures. Prehab programs can offer education about when this may become an issue and advise of specific exercises to help strengthen areas of concern or relieve pain.
Are you ready to find out more, or book an appointment with one of our Brisbane physios? Click here.
North West Physiotherapy is your one-stop pain relief and healthy living practice in Brisbane. With six clinics across North Brisbane; Everton Park, Keperra, Eatons Hill, Nundah, Lutchwyche and Newmarket, our aim is to provide holistic healthcare solution to suit your specific lifestyle.
Our services include Physiotherapy, Sports Physio, Hydrotherapy, Pilates, Podiatry, Dry Needling, Massage, Womens Health, and Seniors Strength and Balance Classes. Please note that services vary across our clinics.
Contact your local clinic to book an appointment.
