By James Cameron BASRaT and Jenny Manners MCSP MSc
I’m just injury prone” – A single phrase that is transferable and echoed all the way from elite sport to Sunday afternoon bike rides. It is the assumption that certain, unlucky people have a natural pre-disposition to injure easily and should therefore be accepted as a fact of life whilst enviously looking at those that train 7 days a week with no problem. No aches, no pain, no stiffness, no nothing! But is it true?
No! Fortunately for those of us who pull a muscle every time we jog, we aren’t struck by a life-long curse of injury prone-ness. Instead our injuries, unless traumatic, are biomechanical issues. Simply put this means that at some point during the movement your are performing, as part of that sport or activity, there is an issue with timing, balance, feedback, control (more about this later) or flexibility in either the joints or the muscles. The key to reducing or completely eliminating your ‘injury prone-ness’ is to identify where the biomechanical or movement can be improved, through a more structured screening procedure and then stick to the exercises you are given!
Easy eh? Biomechanical or movement screening, posture and running analysis are increasingly popular and are quite rightly, used more an more when someone presents with a niggle that wont go away. However, it’s important that you seek the advice of a professional who will screen you in the context of your sport or recreational activity as opposed to the more traditional more specific joint or soft tissue assessment. Video as a screening tool can be very effective and we use App’s that can slow you down and pause you mid flow – so to speak! It’s also useful for you to see yourself because it often makes sense of what you are physically feeling.
