Are many people getting injured with the return to sporting activity after COVID-19? What injuries are they?
These days there is an avalanche of queries in the form of fibrillar breaks, sprains, overloads, stress fractures, etc. They are all associated with a loss of tolerance to tissue tension during confinement and an imbalance in acute load vs. chronic cumulative load.
Why do they occur?
Although during confinement we have tried to maintain a certain physical condition, it is no less true that, in the vast majority of cases, it has been done in confined spaces and with repetitive movements that are far from the usual ones under normal conditions. For this reason, the vast majority of athletes who come out of confinement are quite far from the physical level they had before.
On a mental level this is difficult to assimilate, because perhaps in March we had a high chronic load (which is the result of averaging the last four weeks of training) that has been impossible to maintain in confinement. With that precedent, if we do not keep that in mind, the current acute load (the one we are performing this week) is well above the ideal thresholds to avoid the risk of injury.
How can these types of injuries be prevented?
Physical trainers, physiotherapists and personal trainers are well aware of the risk and the consequences of not respecting this gradual progression, so they are doing a commendable job of raising awareness. However, for athletes who are not in the habit of getting advice about the potential risks, it is even greater, of course, and the result of that is what we are seeing these days in consultation.
The only way to significantly reduce the high injury rate we are seeing is to be clear about what baseline we are starting from. To do this, it is vital to plan an appropriate progression, supervised by a trainer, which ranges from 5% lower to 10% higher than the previous week.
How can they affect long-term health?
Of course, if it also coincides with previously untreated structural abnormalities, such as hyperpronation, postural alterations, etc., the potential risk of injury increases considerably.
In the end it comes down to common sense and being able to manage the desire to do something that you are passionate about and that until now was not possible in a gradual and calm way. If we do not have the awareness to respect these progressions, we could go from being confined to the house by decree to being confined to the house because of an uncomfortable injury we have suffered due to insufficient vigilance. This is why prevention is critical.