LEWIS: Sports Injuries Flashcards
Injuries can be prevented by:
- using the correct equipment (mouth guards or pads)
- wearing correct clothing (trainers with good friction/support)
- using training methods that allow for rest days
- including warm ups and cool downs in training sessions
Taping is used to prevent
ligament injuries
Bracing is used to provide
extra stability to the joint
Taping must be done expertly if its to provide support without limiting
mobility
Bracing must be fully adjustable so that they can limit
movement in joints where ligaments have been stretched as a result of an earlier injury
equipment used to protect themselves from:
impact or penetrative injuries
Examples of protective equipment:
- mouth guards
- helmets
- knee pads
- eye protectors
footwear must also give sufficient
friction or traction against the ground without gripping excessively that performers suffer from ankle or knee injuries due to rotational forces
Footwear for optimal performance and protection, must be :
- correct size
- suit the foot of the individual
Footwear can be suited by:
- arch of foot
- gait analysis
- understanding of how an individual runs
3 ways an individual:
- Neutral
- Pronated
- Supinated
Neutral means:
heel makes contact with ground and travels in a straight line
Pronated means:
heel hits ground but the foot moves to the side
Supinated means:
heel hits ground first and foot rolls outward
Appropriate clothing can help avoid
sport-related/environmentally related injuries
(Clothing) outdoor adventure activities, it is important to stay warm and dry. The risk of hypothermia is significantly increased if you get wet and cold, especially if there is the associated danger of
wind chill
(Clothing) competing in high temperatures, important to decrease chances of suffering from heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wearing synthetic, microgfibre type clothing that allows the sweat to ‘wick’ away from the body quickly will help the performer avoid problems with:
overheating and discomfort
Avoid overheating by:
- ingesting plenty of fluids
- warming up in the shade
- acclimatise body by training in same temp. and humidity
What type of training can reduce/prevent injury:
core strength/stability
Conditioning work that is undertaken must relate specifically to:
- physical demands of the activity
- focus on common injuries
Core strength training involves developing the deep trunk muscles, paraspinal muscles and the pelvic floor muscles which then help stabilise the spine. Before any movement takes place, these muscles contract to give trunk stability which helps:
control movement and transfer energy
Conditioning that improves core strength can help improve performance posture and makes the performer less prone to:
lower back injuries and pain
Core strength training can be undertaken by using
body-weight exercises
balance boards
isometric exercises
Strong, well-conditioned muscles act as important balancing agents for the forces that are generated throughout the body when we engage in physical activity. When muscles are strong, they help to reduce the
repetitive strain that occurs
Overtraining can be caused in 2 ways:
- overstressing the body during training sessions
- not allowing sufficient time for recovery after an intense training session or performance
Characteristics of an overtrained performer:
- Long lasting fatigue
- Worsening of performance under competitive conditions
- tempted to work harder to improve their physical condition
Fatigued and tired muscles provide inadequate support for tendons, ligaments and bones; thereby increasing the risk of
strains, sprains and stress fractures
symptoms of overtraining:
- deep muscle soreness
- persistant nagging injury
- difficulty in working hard enough to raise the HR to the desired training level
- loss of appetite
- recurrent sore throats and flu-like symptoms
- not sleeping properly
To avoid injury caused by overtraining, performers should:
- allow sufficient recovery time
- restore glycogen stores after hard sessions or performances
- not train when ill
- build up training loads gradually after illness
- try and use meditation or relaxation techniques to improve sleep
- ensure that diet is nutritionally balanced
To train children as if they are small adults risks causing damage to developing
joints and musculature
overtraining using inappropriate training regimes for strength/speed development for children can lead to:
inflammation of tendons, mild tendonitis and stress fractures
The Long Term Athlete Development programme (LTAD) is a strategy for developing performers from childhood through to adulthood. It has valuable advice for preventing
inappropriate training and coaching programmes for children
LTAD identifies 2 overlapping stages:
FUNdamental (5-11)
Learning to Train (8-12)
FUNdamental stage should be:
- fun
- quality participation in a wide range of sports
- development of motor skills
- development of agility, balance and coordination
- low voluming training for speed and endurances using FUN games
- simple rules and ethics of sports
- strength training using child’s own body weight
Learning to Train stage involves:
- further development of fundamental skills
- learning general overall sports skills
- continuing strength development
- basic flexibility exercises
- develop endurance with games and relays
- develop speed with specific activities during the warm-up
- developing knowledge of warming up, cooling down, stretching, hydration, nutrition, recovery, relaxation and focusing
- structuring of any competition
Endurance athletes are advised to have a high
carbohydrate diet
to reduce risk of injury through being overtired, some athletes increase their carbohydrate intake when engaged in
heavy training or high level competition
Each time you exercise, glycogen becomes
depleted to a certain extent
To delay fatigue during exercise, take carbohydrates in drink form to ensure easier and quicker
absorption
To avoid hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) during exercise, carbohydrate should not be consumed within
one hour of the start of exercise
glycogen loading causes a temporary increase in the levels of glycogen in the body just prior to competition by convincing the body to store more
glycogen than normal
5 Features of an active warm up:
- general cardiovascular warm up (5-10min) - raises body temp to enhance elasticity of muscles, tendons, etc.
- focusing/concentrating their mind for the training session or performance
- followed by range of 8-10 dynamic exercises that address all the major muscle groups
- specific to sport, mimicking the actions involved in the activity
- Increasing level of intensity
8 Benefits of a warm up:
- maintenance of warmth in body and muscles
- preparation of muscles and joints in a more sport specific manner (static stretching)
- improvement of coordination and motor ability as well as energising the nervous system
- mental preparation
- increased metabolic activity (tissue respiration processes/breaks down fuel at a quicker rate)
- blood shunting occurs
- reduces blood viscosity
- increased breathing rate (better GE due to greater diffusion gradient)
3 stages of warm up:
- pulse raiser (5-10 mins CV)
- sport specific dynamic stretches (8-10)
- sport specific drills (increase intensity levels throughout)
Cool-down is designed to decrease any injurious effects, and prepare for next session. It can do this by:
-preventing blood from pooling in the limbs and lactic acid from building up in the muscles
cool down helps muscles and tendons to:
relax and loosen, stopping them from becoming stiff and tight
13 benefits of cool down:
- helps muscles and tendons to relax
- prevents blood pooling in limbs
- prevents lactic acid build up in muscles
- continues metabolic processes
- keeps blood flowing
- maintains venous return (skeletal pump)
- removes CO2 and lactic acid
- flushes capillaries with oxygenated blood
- maintains elevated blood pressure
- purges oxygen debt
- reduces HR to resting
- returns body temp. and breathing rate gradually
- reduces DOMS effects
DOMS =
delayed onset of muscle soreness
DOMS is caused by:
damage to muscle fibres and connective tissue (inflammation and increased local muscle and eccentric muscle contractions)
6 ways to avoid DOMS:
- undertake an active dynamic warm-up
- avoid movements that entail strenuous eccentric muscle action at start of training programme
- gradually increase exercise intensity and duration
- after initial stages: do extra amounts of eccentric exercise that may cause/have caused DOMS
- undertake an active cool-down (include passive stretching)
- consider therapeutic massage
to recover from soft tissue injury or general fatigue, 9 ways to recover:
- light aerobic activity
- stretching
- therapeutic massage
- contrast showers
- sleeping/lying down still
- ice baths
- food
- hydration
- whirlpool baths
What treatment is used for acute soft-tissue injury:
RICE
R =
Rest as soon as injury occurs
I =
Ice, injured area should be iced for 10-15 minute then taken off for 20 min
Ice reduces the
internal bleeding (due to vasoconstriction) and the flow of fluids from damaged cells and controls inflammation and swelling
C =
Compression, reduces or helps control swelling
E=
Elevation, helps reduce swelling and inflammation
Elevation is most effective if the injured area is elevated above the level of the
heart
Cryotherapy is the use of cooling measures to treat
chronic or acute injuries
Cryogenic chamber therapy is a treatment for
muscle and joint pain
It is important to replenish the carbohydrate and the glycogen stores
after exercise
during the core strength training for the rehabilitation phase, the performer should focus on the whole movement/kinetic chain - a deficiency in one part of the chain can cause a problem or an injury in
another part
Water training is often used when athletes need to
maintain cardiovascular fitness while continuing their sport-specific training patterns, but without exposing the damaged tissues to further trauma
To undertake aquatic therapy, the performer adopts a running posture from that basic technique almost any sport-related movement can be
developed and replicated
Therapeutic massage is the application of massage techniques to the
muscle and connective tissues of the body to enhance and maximise sport performance
Therapeutic massage is used to increase the
range of movement and flexibility and to relieve muscle soreness
Therapeutic massage may help injury prevention and promote
faster recovery from high-intensity training and injury
(PROPRIOCEPTIVE TRAINING) Proprioception is the coordination of balance and joint-positioning sense. For smooth and coordinated movements to be produced, the brain must know accurately the position of the limbs and joints and also the
rate of movement of the limbs
Proprioception info comes from the proprioceptors in the:
joints, tendons and muscles (GTO and muscle spindles)
If proprioceptive sense isn’t retrained after injury, it is likely to cause a recurrence of the
injury
Aim of hyperbaric chambers:
-Reduce recovery time for an injury
Outline of hyperbaric chambers:
- Uses pressures higher than the local atmospheric pressure
- The pressure increases the amount of oxygen that can be breathed in, which means more oxygen can be diffused to the injured area
Hyperbaric chambers simulate:
-air pressure at altitude or depth
Benefits of hyperbaric chamber:
- Boosts white blood cell activity in injured areas (controlling infections)
- Vasoconstriction (reduces blood flow to injured area) - helps to reduce pressure and swelling
- More oxygen can reach the injured area
- Enables quicker healing time
- Reduces lactic acid build up
Effects of hyperbaric chambers:
- Hyperoxia
- Enhanced oxygen delivery
- Saturates blood plasma and haemoglobin with oxygen
- RBCs = more malleable (increases their ability to pass through restricted blood vessels)
- Increased oxygen saturation throughout the body allows body to get oxygen required for ATP resynthesis for energy
Oxygen tents, also known as
hypoxic tents
Oxygen tents simulate:
effects at high altitude by providing a low-oxygen environment
Oxygen tents - oxygen depletion causes production of higher levels of
haemoglobin (more oxygen can be extracted from the blood for extra energy)
Oxygen tents used for:
endurance athletes
Benefits of oxygen tents/hypoxic:
-Higher VO2 max - recovery from injury more quickly as more oxygen can reach the injury enabling cells to heal
-Aids quicker tissue regrowth
/
-improves athlete’s ability to work as more O2 is available to working muscles
-increases oxygen carrying capacity of blood
-produces more RBC and haemoglobin
Oxygen tents do not speed recovery, but do mean that after recovery, they will have retained a level of fitness that allows them to
return to sport almost immediately and achieve some of the positive adaptations of altitude training
