Injuries can and do occur and most commonly occur on the sporting field, in the gym, in the workplace or even carrying out simple tasks at home. In some cases, the pain and lack of function secondary to these injuries could have been avoided or minimised.
With most injuries there are modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors. Modifiable risk factors are ones that we can impact and change, such as our strength, flexibility, motor control and coordination with specific skills. Non modifiable risk factors are things we are unable to change, such as our age, ethnicity, and our family injury history.
Being injured is almost always an inconvenience and can prevent you from participating in the things you love doing. You don’t have to be a professional to participate in injury prevention programs or to address some of the modifiable risk factors that can reduce the likelihood of injuring yourself.
Some ways to reduce the risk of injury include:
- Exercise regularly
- Use appropriate manual handling techniques
- Maintain global strength
- Maintain and optimise specific strength metrics relevant to your sport i.e., hamstring strength in football players
- Optimise biomechanics and motor control
- Learn and refine sports specific skills
- Consume a healthy diet
- Maintain healthy sleeping habits.
Our physiotherapists are highly skilled in undertaking a thorough assessment to gain an insight into things such as your previous injury history, your current and future goals and how these may impact your injury risk. There are certain modifiable risk factors that are highly linked with certain injuries in different sports, such as lower limb strength and motor control in Anterior Cruciate Ligament injuries or eccentric hamstring strength and hamstring injuries in sport. Our physiotherapists are skilled in being able to identify these modifiable risk factors which may help you reduce the likelihood of sustaining an injury. We do this by performing an objective assessment to assess things such as your biomechanics and strength metrics to formulate an injury risk profile.
If you’re someone who has had ongoing injuries either related or not related to sport, and you’re interested in finding out ways to possibly prevent further injuries from happening then book in with one of our friendly physiotherapists who will work with you to achieve your injury prevention goals.
Pro Physio SA, Alex Townsley, Physiotherapist