Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation
Getting injured doing something you love is no fun at all. However what is worse is being kept away from participation. Injuries are part and parcel of sport and some sports are more prone to dishing out injuries than others. Motocross riders must be well up there on the list of 'most injured' sportsmen and I often have calls from riders I have been training to tell me of their latest broken bone or dislocation. It is hard to predict injury occurring - although watching Brad Anderson working his way through the pack after a bad start is scary enough and you just pray he stays on two wheels!
Injuries are most often caused by crashes (sounds obvious really), although they can occur in training or when doing something completely unrelated (listed under this includes 'falling down stairs' and 'when drunk'). Preventing crashes is clearly hard to do with advice and without the worthless 'slow down' or 'ride within your limits'. I'm not your mum and I want you to win too!
There are two main occasions where crashes occur and injuries could possibly be prevented:
- First 10 minutes on the track. No warm up for you or the bike, not 'loose' on the bike and trying every jump first go. This obviously increases the likelihood of coming off and if you're not warmed up, range of motion of joints is reduced and this will increase the chance of dislocating a shoulder for example. Giving yourself time to get into the flow will ultimately help in preventing a crash.
- Riding when tired. The fateful last lap curse and trying the same lap times when you have been going for too long. Fatigue greatly affects concentration and causes you to focus on the wrong stimuli. You pick up wrong cues, notice things you'd not normally notice or worry about, and aren't riding as smoothly. Riding when very tired is part and parcel of racing I know, but prepare for it - you know what you're going to be up against so do some appropriate training that will make you stronger and last longer and help reduce crashes when you just can't hold on anymore! If you're practicing, try taking more frequent breaks for drinks as you will ultimately be able to go for longer and feel fresher.
There is one rider who is said to be 'very lucky' when it comes to injuries and that is Ricky Carmichael. He hasn't missed an outdoor national in years and years, has 2 seasons of not even losing a single moto and managed to hold out until the end of a season before going under the knife to repair a damaged cruciate (knee) ligament before bouncing back even stronger than before. He may indeed be lucky, but I think you make your own luck to a certain extent and if you watch some of the footage of him when he nearly comes off or crashes he is riding that bike like a bull. Pure strength and fitness keeps him in control where 90 percent of others wouldn't have the energy to hang on and be flung face first into the dirt. Building up muscle strength therefore does go towards preventing injury and also goes along way to stabilising the joint it acts upon. This increased joint stability helps resist dislocations and also hyper extensions.
The most common injuries are those to the shoulders, wrists and knees. Broken bones are some of the most serious and I heard a story about young Ryan Abrahams' dad running over to see his boy with what he thought was a dirty stick pointing out his arm, until he realised it was the bone...
Recovery from injuries is something we all want to do faster, more effectively and with as little pain as possible. Friends re-runs are all well and good but couch time is never fun.
The first thing to do when injured is follow the simple R.I.C.E. principle - Rest immediately, Ice the injured site, put Compression onto the area with strapping and Elevate. This will help with pain and swelling and if done promptly will help reduce injury time. In any case, try to see a professional as soon as possible as quick diagnosis is one of the best ways to treat the injury correctly. Ignoring it and just moaning of the discomfort won't help anyone and make the injury longer.
Upper body injuries such as A/C separations, shoulder dislocations and broken wrists all require sufficient time of immobilisation. However, there is nothing to stop you continuing to remain active and doing some training. It is only the injury that needs to be rested. Light cardio work on a stationary bike, or light running, are very effective ways to keep your fitness from taking a dive. With these injuries, it is important to regain a good range of motion about the joint and build muscle strength around it. It is important to take advice from your doctor but on many occasions a GP's treatment protocol will be very conservative so a sports injury specialist would be a good port of call. Training can commence early, will help promote recovery without further damaging the injury and help you back on the bike as soon as possible. Gradual build up is important and starting off with elastic exercise band exercises for example and moving on to light 'dog bone' free weights will help develop the surrounding muscles that support and stabilise the joint. You can also use this time to work on strength for other areas - lower body and core stability are both areas that could be trained if you have upper extremity injury and improved to levels better than before the injury.
For lower extremity injuries it is harder to maintain general cardio fitness. Casts obviously have great limiting factors but if you are not in a cast, weight bearing exercise that offer little joint stress will help promote recovery. Rowing machines, swimming (or even aqua walking/running) and stationary bikes will increase blood flow to the area, build muscular strength and increase some weight bearing which is an important phase in recovery. You must clearly take advice from the doctors but try to see a sports injury specialist as they will have a much better understanding of your needs. In an age where pins are inserted into bones and casts may even be left off, recovery time is reduced and as long as you don't do anything risky that might promote a fall or is too high intensity too early, you can be active soon after injury.
As an example, for a knee injury, the strengthening of the leg muscles is important to stabilise and protect the joint and improving this strength from what it was before the injury will help prevent re-occurrence of the injury. Also focus on building up 'proprioceptive' awareness again. This is the knowledge of what the limb is doing with regard to position, joint angle etc and although this is often good when riding and training, an injury lay off will reduce this awareness and this must be regained. Balance boards, single leg squats and balance exercises with your eyes shut will greatly help this. Lay off running but build strength through weights work, cycling and cross trainer machine. You can monitor progress by comparing the results of each exercise between the injured and non injured leg. Do not try to match the non injured limb but gradually note improvements. As you recover from the injury you can see how fit and recovered you are by the performance percentage compared to the non injured limb. Once up to around 80% you can start to re-introduce your normal exercises.
If you are unfortunate to suffer an injury, once swelling and pain have subsided, gradual light work can begin. By keeping active whilst protecting the injured limb or joint will keep your cardio good, the motivation up and reduce the worry that the hard work of before the injury was wasted - loss can be greatly minimised.
Finding ways to speed up your recovery are not only a physical benefit but also a mental boost - as you don't feel as left out from activity. Gyms often have exercise classes that are graded for ability or fitness. Going to an entry level class would help in rehab and using some of the weights machines to gain range of motion before moving on to the free weights to build more strength and stability.
As with any injury, please do seek medical help first and follow the doctors guidelines. Do ask them questions so you get a good understanding and use this advice to help your recovery.
Thank you to Virgin Active Health Clubs. Virgin Active Health Clubs can be found nationwide and for more information or to find your nearest Health Club go to www.virginactive.co.uk or call 08451304747.
