An untimely injury can result in a loss of crucial training time or could even be season/career ending. Minimizing athletic injuries therefore should be of great concern.

The body must be prepared to adapt to these aggressive training demands. Often times athletes play with muscle imbalances, poor core strength, and inflexibility. This can increase the risk of injury.

Muscle Imbalance:
A muscle imbalance is when there is a strength deficit between the muscles acting on a joint. That muscle may work effectively during a specific movement, but it can fail when doing functional movements like running, Pilates, Bosu, or even Yoga. It is difficult to determine your own muscular imbalance, but the first sign is usually a troublesome pain or occasional discomfort.

A prime example seen often in the clinic involves the shoulder. Swimmers and tennis players tend to be extremely strong with internal rotation, but weak with external rotation. These muscle imbalances can lead to abnormal joint movements and can result in tendonitis or bursitis. By training every muscle group, not just the ones required for your sport, one can avoid muscle imbalance injuries.

Inflexibility:
Inflexibility is a decrease in range of motion. This can cause unwanted stresses at certain points throughout the joint, since that body part cannot move through a complete range of motion. Consequently, injuries can arise from those unwanted stresses. A majority of our patients, with back injuries, tend to have extremely tight hamstrings. Flexibility can be improved through a daily stretching routine. The daily routine should include stretching specific muscles groups, both statically and dynamically.

Poor Core Strength:
The core, including the abdominal and lower back muscles, is your body’s pillar of strength. Poor core strength can lead to weakness in any muscle group. It affects your overall body mechanics and how well you can execute a movement. Poor core strength can also affect your power in many sports from tennis to basketball or from running to cycling. Working from a strong core, extremities are able to produce an increase in power.

The staff at Camelback Mountain Sports Medicine often sees injuries that are the result of muscle imbalances, inflexibility, and poor core strength. You can keep yourself healthy and injury free with a good, conditioning routine. If an injury does occur, keep in mind that addressing these areas may be needed to allow for return to your sport.

At Camelback Mountain Sports Medicine, we evaluate the injured area and are trained to look at the entire person and mechanism of the injury to assess these issues of muscle imbalances, core strength, and inflexibility.

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