How to Best Prevent Sports-Related Injuries

Sports-related injuries affect millions of people every year in the United States. Though not always serious, sports injuries can limit your active lifestyle. The best way to stay active is to take steps to prevent getting hurt in the first place. 

At Pro-Health Urgent Care of Midland, our specialists manage all types of unexpected injuries, including those from playing sports. While you can’t prevent all injuries, you can take steps that might reduce your risk. Here, we offer our top tips for preventing sports-related injuries. 

Get a sports physical

Any form of exercise can lead to an injury. Whether you’re playing recreationally or with an organized team, the best way to prevent an injury is to schedule a sports physical before you start. We perform these types of physicals at our office.

While similar to your annual physical exam, the focus of a sports physical is on making sure you’re healthy and fit enough to participate in your sport of choice, whether it’s high school basketball or the local softball league. 

Your sports physical also gives us an opportunity to talk to you about your sport and how you can prepare for practice and games to prevent injuries. 

Create a fitness plan

Playing sports is a great way to keep your body fit. But many sports require heavy use of specific body parts, like the shoulders in baseball, elbows in golf, and knees in any high-impact sport (running, football, basketball). Doing the same movement over and over puts you at risk of developing an overuse injury.

When training for your sport, create a balanced exercise plan that includes aerobic activity, strength training, and flexibility training. This way, you’re working out all of your muscles and joints equally, improving support for the ones you use a lot in your sport and reducing your risk of injury. 

Your fitness plan should also include a proper warmup and cooldown routine. Warming up and cooling down are essential parts of an exercise plan many athletes skip. But failing to do so increases your risk of getting injured.

You can also use your fitness plan to learn the proper techniques for playing your sport and how best to use your equipment.

Take breaks

Rest and recovery are just as important as a thorough fitness plan. You need to give your body time to recover from the stress and strain of your sport and exercise routine. 

Take days off in between your practices and games. It’s also important to rest when you’re tired. Playing a sport or working out when you’re not fully focused increases your risk of injury. 

And don’t play through pain. Pain means something is wrong. If you continue to play, you may turn a minor sports injury into a major injury and prolonged recovery time.

If you have pain from a sports-related injury, the urgent care specialists at At Pro-Health Urgent Care of Midland are ready to help. We can diagnose and treat any type of injury and provide guidance on how to prevent further damage. 

For a sports physical or urgent care, call our office in Midland, Michigan, or book an appointment online today. We also offer telehealth appointments for your convenience.