Fitness injuries aren’t fun and while they might not be serious, they could still land you in your doctor’s office. What’s even worse yet is that you’ll have to miss out on your next fitness training or won’t be able to do other things in your life.
There’s a whole list of fitness injuries, but there are a few common injuries that can happen to even the most experienced athletes. Keeping your form in check is one of the ways to avoid injuries. However, knowing what injuries to expect and what to pay attention can be beneficial.
In this post, we’ll show you the most common fitness injuries that are super easy to avoid, and how to avoid them. So keep on reading to stay safe during your exercises!
Easiest Fitness Injuries to Avoid
The easiest fitness injuries to avoid are also the most common injuries you hear about all the time. These include anything from muscle pulls and strains, back pain, back injuries, to neck and shoulder pain, shin splints, knee pain, and and more.
In theory, any action performed during exercise can lead to an injury if the muscle, bone, or body part is overly stimulated, moved too quickly, or moved in an awkward position. The number one most common fitness injury is the muscle pull and strain.
Muscle pulls and strains happen due to muscle overuse, using a muscle memory in a wrong way, or an accident where the muscle got hit and damaged. Regardless of the type of fitness activities, there are endless ways to strain a muscle and it’s fairly easy to do so.
The same happens with a sprained ankle, which is the second most common fitness injury. Whatever you do, you put your whole weight on your feet and ankles are bridge between the legs and feet. Whenever you step in a wrong way or don’t distribute the weight of your body properly, you can sprain your ankle. All it takes is to roll, twist, or rotate your ankle in a wrong way and you will be needing time off.
Back pain and back injuries are often associated with injured ligaments and muscles that are located in the back. These muscles are easy to injure, just like any other muscle in our body, and it mostly happens due a poor form.
The same applies to neck pain, which can be hurt by odd movements that can tear and sprain neck muscles.
Knees are a very common fitness injury in some sports, but it is also a common fitness injury as well. With the lower limbs being mostly affected by certain fitness exercises, the pressure and movement of the knees can lead to ligament tears, pain, and overuse. If you are overusing your lower leg muscles, this can also lead to shin splints which are known as pain in the muscles and tissues of lower legs.
How to Strengthen My Body to Avoid Injuries
The most common reason why these easiest fitness injuries to avoid happen is poor form. By this, we mean incorrect posture when handling certain positions, pressure, weights, or exercising equipment. However, injuries can also happen very early on in your fitness journey if you’re just starting to work out.
Using muscles you haven’t used before can easily lead to injuries, so that’s why having the correct form and posture is the most important thing to do to avoid injuries. After that, the second most important thing to stay safe during fitness is to strengthen your body.
Strengthening your body will help you avoid injuries, and focusing on building a stronger upper back and glutes can increase your safety. Stronger upper back and glutes can lead to better and stronger posture, even if you’re lifting weights.
However, another way to stay safe is to warm up before exercise and maintain a regular stretching routine. On top of that, you should also listen to your body, especially when doing resistance training.
Besides strengthening your back and glutes, staying hydrated, using appropriate footwear, using protective gear, and having enough rest between exercises can lead to becoming stronger. While getting stronger isn’t the most important thing to avoid being prone to injuries, it is important to consider all of the aspects.
Stretching before and after the exercise, increasing your mobility, warming up before every fitness training, using the proper technique, paying attention to your posture, hydrating, and paying attention to your body can help you avoid injuries.
Conclusion
Some of the easiest fitness injuries to avoid can happen in the blink of an eye, but if you’re aware of the most common ones, you’re halfway there to avoid them. Being super careful during fitness training is one way to avoid injuries, but strengthening your body, listening to it, and making sure you use proper techniques is another half of the work you should do.
While some fitness injuries aren’t serious and the recovery process isn’t long, they can be an inconvenience to your daily life. Hopefully, now you know exactly what things to pay attention to and how to strengthen yourself so you can avoid the most common injuries.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
What exercise is most prone to injury?
Deadlifting is the most rewarding exercise because it targets and uses the most muscles as a compound exercise.
What are two risky exercises and why are they risky?
Deadlifts and squats are the two most risky exercises because they’re compound-type exercises, which target more muscle groups at once, involving and putting at risk more parts of the body.
What are unsafe exercise techniques that should always be avoided?
Bending the back when lifting weight or equipment, combined with incorrect posture, can always lead to a back injury.
What is an extreme risk in a gym?
Slightly more than 40% gym goers get injured, but it’s mostly beginners who didn’t get their form right and are still learning how to perform exercises and use the equipment.
What type of exercise is most likely to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease?
Cardio type exercises such as running, swimming, riding a bike, and even some resistance training such as moderate weight lifting.
What exercises should be avoided with high blood pressure?
Heavy weightlifting, sprinting, and any other highly intense type of exercise can be dangerous for people with high blood pressure.
