Common Gym Injuries and How to Recover From Them
Injuries are an unfortunate part of training in the gym and being an athlete. Gym injuries can be disheartening and cause major disruption in your fitness journey.
It can often feel like they always come at the worst times too. Right as you're finding your flow, making progress, and reaching your fitness or strength goals, an injury comes knocking on the door to bring you down.
However, an injury doesn't have to stop you in your tracks and doesn't need to get you down. There is always a way to continue training around an injury; it might just mean switching up your routine and reducing the overall intensity.
More importantly, every gym injury is recoverable. In this article, we wanted to provide you with the tools to understand your injury and learn how to recover from it. We have curated the 3 most common exercise injuries and detailed the best road to recovery for each injury:
1. Lower Back Strain:
A lower back strain can be a result of several factors. Lack of movement, prolonged periods of sitting, and poor posture can all be contributing factors. Often, it is a combination of behaviour in your day-to-day life and your training within the gym.
Within the gym, a strain in your lower back is often caused by muscle imbalances, weak core muscles or poor lifting form. Particularly with the main compound lifts such as squats and deadlifts, it is vital to maintain proper form, and adequately load the weight, to avoid straining your back. The major symptoms you will experience with a back strain include limited mobility, tightness in your back, general stiffness, and either sharp or lingering pain.
How to Recover from a Lower Back Strain
A common theme with every injury we discuss in this article is the concept of prevention over cure. We firmly believe in this principle at NQ Physio Solutions and always preach it to our clients. With lower back issues, maintaining proper form will significantly reduce the likelihood of injury. Additionally, strengthening your core, stretching before lifting, and ensuring to move throughout the day will help massively.
Once you feel a strain in your lower back, it is vital to take it seriously and take the rest you need to recover. While taking the necessary rest, try to continue to move gently and rest in positions of ease. When you feel ready, you can then begin to employ light stretching before focusing on strengthening your back and core to prevent the same injury from happening again. A trained physiotherapist can properly diagnose the source of the injury, help with the symptoms, and give you the targeted stretches and exercises you need to fully recover.
2. Deltoid and Rotator Cuff Injuries
Your deltoid is a large muscle within the shoulder that consists of the anterior, posterior, and intermediate muscle fibres. Your rotator cuff is a group of muscles stabilising and supporting the shoulder joint. Unfortunately, it is very common for people who train at the gym to injure these major body parts.
Like a lower back strain, shoulder injuries are often caused by poor posture, long periods sitting over a desk during the day, poor form, and overuse within the gym. Muscle imbalances can also be a major cause of injury most commonly in your rotator cuff but occasionally also in the deltoid.
The most common symptoms include a nagging ache, sharp pain, and limited shoulder or upper back mobility.
How to Recover from Deltoid and Rotator Cuff Injuries
Muscle balance and good posture are the keys to preventing and recovering from shoulder and rotator cuff injuries. Make sure to check in with yourself regularly on how you sit, stand, and hold yourself upright. If you are slouching or your upper back is rolled forward, this is a recipe for disaster. Correct your posture whenever you notice this, and always try to pull your shoulders back.
Resting if the pain is severe is important, as is seeking advice from a Physiotherapist]. Often exercises can be modified to allow you to continue to train within a comfortable range without making your shoulder problem worse. Once you feel ready, incorporate a targeted gym programme that works on strengthening the rotator cuff , deltoid and the larger muscles in your back, chest, and arms.
3. Elbow Pain and Tendonitis
Elbow pain is a common gym injury that can flare up in various ways. Usually, it is lateral epicondylagia, often referred to as "tennis elbow" or "golfer's elbow". Tendonopathy in your elbow can flare up if you are using poor form when you're lifting, when you are loading too much weight on the bar, or if you have muscle imbalances within your upper body.
How to Recover from Elbow Pain
To recover from elbow pain, a short break from upper body training and lifting any heavy weight may be required. During this time, focus on rest and recovery. Feel free to incorporate lower body exercises or cardio, that do not overstress the tendons. Often long periods of rest are not required or recommended. When you are ready a Physiotherapist can prescribe exercises to assist your recovery and build the tendons tolerance of loading. A brace may be recommended to assist with reducing your symptoms.
Final Tips for Dealing with Injury
Dealing with gym injuries is a challenge every athlete and fitness enthusiast must face. While injury is a part of exercising and lifting weights, you can still do everything possible to prevent injury and keep fit and healthy. We recommend implementing key preventative techniques such as rest, warm-ups, cool-downs, stretching, and strength work. Ensure to enforce healthy habits in your daily life, move your body every day, and focus on good posture throughout the day.
Don't let injuries stop you from achieving your fitness goals. If you struggle with any of the above common gym injuries, contacting a professional physiotherapist can majorly speed up recovery. At NQ Physio Solutions, our experienced physiotherapist team can help you recover from your injury, manage any pain, optimise your performance, prevent further injury, and generally help you feel like yourself again. With a dedicated recovery plan, you'll be back to your best in no time.