Injury prevention is every athlete’s dream. Imagine being able to do what you love—exercise, sport, outdoor activities—without getting injured. While that sounds ideal, the reality is a bit more complex.
Can we really prevent injury?
When people think about injury prevention, they often think of:
Stretching (static or dynamic)
Mobility work
Strapping and taping
Ice baths
Saunas
Manual therapy/treatment
Resistance training
Load management and rest
However, the honest answer to “Can we prevent injury?” is: probably not. Injuries are a normal part of life and activity. The word “prevention” is a bit misleading. A better term is injury risk reduction—we can’t remove all risk, but we can lower it.
What actually helps reduce injury risk?
The answer isn’t black and white, but we can think about it as a hierarchy. Some factors matter more than others, and they should be prioritised.
Load management, rest and nutrition
These are the foundations of injury risk reduction, yet they are often ignored. Many people jump straight to ice baths, stretching or massage and assume that’s enough. It isn’t.
Research shows that appropriate load management, rest and recovery are consistently linked with lower injury risk. Load management means:
Training at an appropriate intensity and volume
Progressing gradually
Scheduling rest so your body can adapt and get stronger
Over?training or constantly pushing to failure can backfire, leading to poor adaptation and a higher risk of injury.
Image taken from: Gabbett TJ The training—injury prevention paradox: should athletes be training smarter and harder?British Journal of Sports Medicine 2016;50:273-280.
The above graph is a hypothesized training program in respect to training load and the factors that coaches and trainers are trying to affect. As seen in the graph, finding the optimal relationship with training and rest can not only reduce the risk of injury but increase overall performance.
Nutrition also plays a key role. Protein is important, but so are:
Omega?3 fatty acids
Antioxidants
Collagen
Calcium
Vitamins C and D
These are especially important if you train regularly, whether you’re a weekend warrior or a professional.
How can Ascot Vale Osteopathy help?
Hands?on treatment can help relieve sore, tight muscles, but that’s only part of the picture. We can also:
Help you modify your training and workload
Prescribe resistance and rehab exercises
Educate you about recovery, load and movement patterns
By building an injury risk reduction plan into your training, you become more aware of your body and how it responds. This awareness alone can significantly lower your injury risk.
Resistance training
Whatever your sport—soccer, football, combat sports, running, athletics—some form of resistance training should be in your program. Increasing strength and muscle capacity helps your body tolerate load better, which can reduce the risk of injury.
Stretching, ice baths and other extras
Stretching before and after exercise is very common, and many people use it as their main injury prevention strategy. But research suggests that people who stretch regularly don’t have significantly different injury rates compared to those who don’t.
This doesn’t mean stretching is useless—it can help with flexibility and how you feel—but it does mean more time and thought should go into load management, strength and recovery, as these have a much bigger impact on injury risk.
Even with the best plan, injuries can still happen. Sometimes there’s no clear reason—life and sport are unpredictable. When they do, we’re here to help you recover, rebuild confidence and get back to doing what you love as safely and quickly as possible.
Turnagöl, H. H., Ko?ar, ?. N., Güzel, Y., Aktitiz, S., & Atakan, M. M. (2021). Nutritional Considerations for Injury Prevention and Recovery in Combat Sports. Nutrients, 14(1), 53. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14010053
Soomro N, Sanders R, Hackett D, et al. The Efficacy of Injury Prevention Programs in Adolescent Team Sports: A Meta-analysis. The American Journal of Sports Medicine. 2016;44(9):2415-2424. doi:10.1177/0363546515618372
Dijksma, I., Arslan, I.G., van Etten-Jamaludin, F.S., Elbers, R.G., Lucas, C. and Stuiver, M.M. (2020), Exercise Programs to Reduce the Risk of Musculoskeletal Injuries in Military Personnel: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Journal of Injury, Function and Rehabilitation, 12: 1028-1037. https://doi.org/10.1002/pmrj.12360
Jiang Z, Hao Y, Jin N, Li Y. A Systematic Review of the Relationship between Workload and Injury Risk of Professional Male Soccer Players. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(20):13237. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013237
Gabbett TJ The training—injury prevention paradox: should athletes be training smarter and harder?British Journal of Sports Medicine 2016;50:273-280.
Nuzzo J. L. (2020). The Case for Retiring Flexibility as a Major Component of Physical Fitness. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 50(5), 853–870. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-019-01248-w
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