How do sprains and strains differ, how they can be treated and how they can be avoided.
Do you feel a kind of tugging in your back while doing a set of barbecued curls? You have suffered a strain. Or have you sprained something? Confusing the terms “sprain” and “strain” is like confusing “super set” with “giant set”: both are simply wrong. While sprains and strains have something in common, there are clear differences between the two terms.
„A sprain is defined as a stretch or tear (partially or fully) in a ligament connecting one bone to the other ",
„A strain is defined as a stretch or tear (partially or completely) either in the tendon connecting the muscle to the bone or in the muscle itself. "
Weight training is characterized by repetitive loads as well as dynamic and rapid demands on muscles and tendons. So your common sense tells you that most injuries in the weight room are strains. You can also get sprains from weight training with exercises that put strain on the ligaments in vulnerable joints such as your knees or shoulders.
However, sprains and strains can be reduced to a minimum if the precautions recommended here are followed.
INJURY CLASSIFICATION
Sprains and strains can be classified as first, second, and third degree injuries.
Third degree injuries
A third degree injury is a complete tear - either of a muscle / tendon (strain) or a ligament (sprain). A complete tear is usually accompanied by significant swelling, loss of movement, impaired function, loss of strength and severe pain.
Second degree injuries
A second degree injury is a tear that, although quite large, has many fibers intact. Swelling, functional impairment, loss of strength and pain can still be described as moderate.
First degree injuries
In the case of a first-degree injury, much of the tissue - except perhaps a few fibers - is still intact. As a rule, you only feel slight pain, and the swelling, the loss of movement, the impaired function and the loss of strength are rather minor.
Compound exercises such as bench press, bent over row, Deadlift, Leg presses, squats, and lat pulls are examples of exercises that put the body under potential strains. However, if you follow our precautions, you can significantly reduce the risk of injury. In general, if you avoid quick or jerky movements during these exercises, the incidence of strains can be reduced. Of course, these exercises are critical to a successful bodybuilding program. Doing without them completely is no longer an alternative.
Some of these exercises can cause not only strains but also sprains. However, due to the stress that a sprain requires, this list is much shorter. The bench press for example, a sprain can cause the shoulder joint - depending on how much pressure it puts on the ligament between the shoulder roof (the bony protrusion at the tip of the shoulder) and the collarbone on the shoulder. If this ligament is sprained, it can be difficult to bench press. You can feel it when you reach around your body with your arm, or when you only touch the affected shoulder area.
Squats can cause knee sprains. If you crouch deeply (deeper than parallel) and then push the weight up again, you strain ligaments and cartilage in the knee joints: the medial and lateral meniscus.
SPREAD AND STRAIN TREATMENTS
At the beginning of rehabilitation, treating a sprain or strain includes letting the injured part of the body rest for two to five days and cooling it with ice for 15 to 20 minutes two to three times a day. As soon as the pain has decreased significantly, exercises for flexibility, manual therapy methods (such as joint and soft tissue mobilization) and therapeutic exercises should be added to the program and increased over time. After the acute injury stages are over and the symptoms subside, the therapeutic part of rehabilitation should be tightened a little to the point where the program resembles normal workouts.
VOSICHTSMASSNAHMEN
1) Start the workout for five to ten minutes with a general cardio warm-up in order to increase the core body temperature and to ensure better elasticity of the tissue.
2) Do one or two exercise-specific warm-up sets with lighter weights to prepare the areas of the body that you want to train for the heavier weights.
3) Change the exercises, the sequence of exercises, the workload (that is, the repetitions multiplied by the sets), and the weights often.
4) Take good care of your body and make sure that you do not feel an isolated, sharp pain when doing an exercise.
5) Rest at least 48 hours between workouts for the same muscle group.