Injury prevention training
Injuries related to training often occur because one is performing too much, too quickly, and with little rest. Injury prevention training is important to avoid discomfort from improper strain and wear over time. Overuse injuries and wear and tear injuries are something many experience throughout life, ranging from minor temporary back issues to long-lasting and more serious problems in the back and neck.
Fortunately, there are good tips and exercises that can prevent and avoid injuries. This is extremely important for an active life without issues. It is crucial to prevent injuries regardless of age and physical condition. In conclusion, we recommend simple exercises to prevent poor posture, which easily arises in a daily life full of sitting.
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Injury prevention exercises
What is injury prevention training?
Have you noticed a pain gradually becoming worse? Whether you're sitting still at the office for a long time, or when you perform certain exercises?
This can be counteracted by strength training so that the muscles strengthen and take the load off the skeleton and tendons. Many issues can indeed be trained away with the right exercises. The most important thing is to listen to your body and decide what treatment your issue needs, whether it's a doctor visit or some injury prevention exercises.
Also read: Pregnancy training
Thinking, hearing, or knowing that the risk of injury is reduced if one does the right exercises is of little help if the exercises are not performed regularly in the training routine. A helpful tool for such planning can be our training diary.
Why train preventively against injuries?
If you work preventively against injuries, you can have a body that is much better equipped for external stress. At the same time, the training feels more appropriate, and performance improves. Past injury is one of the biggest reasons for re-injury, so it is important to avoid the first injury. Therefore, it is essential to emphasize that injury prevention training is important whether you are a beginner or an athlete.
Regularly performing injury prevention exercises reduces the risk of injury by about 50%. Regular and structured warm-up exercises are a simple way to invest in both health and performance. Varied warm-up programs, including strength, explosiveness, and balance, have been shown to both reduce the risk of injury and improve the athlete's physical performance. Use our training diary to plan your workouts!
How to prevent overuse injuries?
Injury prevention exercises should attempt to prevent overuse injuries and are something everyone should incorporate into their training program. What one should train depends heavily on where the issues manifest, and in principle, all movement is injury-preventive unless done incorrectly. The most common issues are found in the back, ankles, and knees.
Also read: Training after childbirth
Injury prevention exercises for the back
A large part of the population experiences back problems at some point in their life. This is particularly due to weak supportive muscles along the spine. Such weakness can cause pain and less stability in the lower back. Additionally, you may become more prone to injuries related to training. Exercises that strengthen the lower back help to reduce or prevent back pain. These exercises also activate the core muscles and reduce stiffness.
Glute bridge
This exercise strengthens the glute muscles, which are the strongest and largest muscles in the buttocks, but also one of the most important muscles in the body. The glute muscles provide support and stability to the lower back and prevent back discomfort.
How to perform the exercise:
- Lie on the floor and bend your knees, placing your feet flat on the ground shoulder-width apart.
- Press your feet down into the floor, keeping your arms at your sides.
- Lift your buttocks off the ground so that your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your knees.
- Squeeze the glute muscles. Your shoulders should remain flat on the ground at all times.
- Lower your buttocks and rest for a few seconds.
Perform the exercise in 3 sets of 15 repetitions, with 1 minute of rest between sets.
Plank
This exercise strengthens the core muscles while building static strength in both arms and legs.
How to perform the exercise:
- Stand on your toes with a 90-degree bend in your elbows.
- Find a neutral position in your back and pelvis.
- Draw your navel gently towards your spine.
Perform the exercise in 4 sets of 10-15 seconds, with 1 minute of rest between sets.
Rotation exercise
This exercise relieves tension in the lower back and upper body. At the same time, it activates the core muscles and improves stability.
How to perform the exercise:
- Lie on the floor with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground.
- Keep your shoulders always in contact with the floor, and gently roll both knees to one side.
- Hold the position for 5–10 seconds.
- Return to the starting position.
- Gently roll the bent knees to the opposite side, hold, and then return to the starting position.
Repeat the exercise twice a day with 2-3 rotations on each side.
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Pelvic lift
This exercise activates and stabilizes the core muscles and relieves tight muscles in the lower back and pelvis.
How to perform the exercise:
- Lie on the floor with your knees bent, keeping your arms at your sides.
- Gently arch your lower back and push your belly out.
- Hold for 5 seconds, then relax.
- Flatten your back and gently pull your navel towards the ground.
- Hold for 5 seconds and relax.
Complete one set gradually increasing the number of repetitions up to 30 per session.
These exercises can be performed daily and can be done at home. Some of the exercises may provide immediate effects, but it is important that they are performed daily over time to achieve a lasting effect. Regular exercises to strengthen the lower back and core muscles can help prevent injuries, relieve pain, and provide better stability and mobility.
Combating lower back pain
Discomfort in the lower back and hips can often be caused by sitting still for too long or having a more active daily routine involving heavy lifting, which can lead to such pain or soreness. The most important thing you can do to prevent such discomfort is to train the core muscles.
Leg climber
This exercise stretches the back while you work on your core, outer, and side abdominal muscles.
How to perform the exercise:
- Lie on your back with one foot extended straight up towards the ceiling. The other leg is bent.
- Climb up along the leg using your core muscles.
- Avoid pulling yourself up with your arms.
- Try to come as far up as possible. Slowly lower yourself back down.
Perform the set 2-3 times with 15 repetitions on each side.
Hyperextension
An exercise that trains the entire back.
How to perform the exercise:
- Lie on your stomach with your forehead down towards the floor.
- Extend your arms so that your hands rest on your temples.
- Lift your upper body and legs from the ground. Hold at the top.
- If you only want to train the lower back and core, you only need to lift your upper body.
Perform the set 2-3 times with 15 repetitions.
Forward fold
This exercise relieves tension in the muscles around the lower back and helps stretch out the entire area.
How to perform the exercise:
- Stand upright with a slight bend in your knees.
- Bend slowly forward, vertebra by vertebra.
- Keep your weight on your heels so you can feel yourself relaxing.
- Hang relaxed and breathe slowly.
- Relax in your abdomen and neck.
- Roll slowly back up vertebra by vertebra. Head last.
Perform 1-3 times for 30-60 seconds.
Injury prevention exercises for ankles
Sprains and other ankle injuries can easily occur and can affect daily life to a small or large extent depending on the activity level. To avoid such injuries, it is important to train the support muscles in the foot that support the ankle.
Balance training
The most important thing to prevent ankle injuries is to build stability, which can be done through various balance exercises. Try to hold your balance for 30 seconds on each leg, three times. As you feel your balance getting stronger, you can try to maintain balance on a balance board. The balance exercises can also vary. Perform squats on a balance board with 10 repetitions and 3 sets.
Calf raises
This exercise primarily trains the calf muscles and is a foundational muscle for almost all activities. During calf raises, the ankles are also stabilized.
How to perform the exercise:
- Place your feet on an edge or a plate where the heel does not touch the plate.
- Keep a hip-width distance between your feet. Keep your back straight.
- Stretch out the calf muscles as much as you can before lowering yourself sufficiently downwards.
- Increase the difficulty and perform the exercise one leg at a time.
Rotation exercises
Twist your foot inward as far as you can and hold this position for 15 seconds. Then stretch the foot out again and twist it outward as far as you can, holding for 15 seconds. This exercise can also be done with a band.
Perform the exercise 10 times in both directions.
Injury prevention exercises for the knee
A crucial factor for healthy and strong knees is having strong, stable, and flexible muscles around the knee joint. You can reduce the chances of knee issues by strengthening these muscles and stretching regularly. When starting with entirely new exercises, it is wise not to start too hard. It is important for the body to get enough recovery time between sessions.
Lunge exercises
Various types of lunges are great for training the lower body, and the variations allow one to focus on different muscle areas of the legs. The different lunge exercises also train and stabilize the knees, but be aware that if your knees start to cave inward or shake, take a break.
How to perform the exercise:
- Stand with your feet together and hands on your hips.
- Take a long step forward with one leg.
- When the foot hits the ground, slow down the movement until you are in a deep position. About 90 degrees at the knee joint.
- Your upper body should be straight.
- Return to the starting position and turn 45 degrees, taking another step with the same leg.
- Return to the starting position and repeat with the other leg.
- Make sure your knees are over your toes, and your back remains straight throughout the exercise.
Repeat the exercise in 3 sets of 10 repetitions per leg, with 1 minute of rest between sets.
Sumo squat with lunge
How to perform the exercise:
- Keep a hip-width distance between your legs. Point your toes slightly outward.
- Perform a deep squat and press against your toes.
- Extend your knees outward and turn 90 degrees.
- Do a lunge and back into a squat.
- Turn 90 degrees for a new squat this way.
Perform the exercise in 3 sets of 15 repetitions, with 1 minute of rest.
Injury prevention exercises for shoulders
The shoulders are one of the most mobile joints in the body, requiring both strength and extreme mobility at the same time. A shoulder injury can easily occur if it is overloaded over a long period. Shoulder injuries can be prevented through simple training exercises, and these exercises should be a regular part of the training for anyone who strains their shoulders daily.
Rotation exercises
There are some rotation exercises for the upper body that can strengthen, move, and reduce pain in the shoulders.
How to perform the exercise:
- Get on all fours. Rotate up towards the ceiling with a straight arm.
- Follow your hand with your gaze.
- Bring your arm back and repeat with the other arm.
- Rotate to alternate sides.
Repeat the exercise in 3 sets of 10 repetitions, with 1 minute of rest.
An exercise you can easily perform from the office is seated rotations. This exercise provides good variation and blood circulation to the neck, shoulders, and surrounding structures. All you need to do is:
- Sit up straight.
- Stretch both arms out to either side.
- Thumbs up, and rotate your arms so that your thumbs point down.
- Do 10 repetitions in 3 sets.
Diagonal lift
This exercise activates the muscles around the shoulder blades and strengthens the muscles that provide good posture. The exercise also engages the glutes and strengthens the body's natural connection between each shoulder and itself.
How to perform the exercise:
- Get on all fours with a slight arch in your back.
- Lift your right arm and left leg. Stretch and lift them as far as you can.
- Keep your core stable.
- Lower slowly and repeat with the opposite arm and leg.
Repeat the exercise in 3 sets of 10 repetitions, with 1 minute of rest.
Injury prevention exercises with bands
Most of the exercises mentioned above can also be performed with bands. There are many different exercises with bands that are injury preventive as long as they are performed correctly, and the body is not improperly loaded. Here you can find our favorite exercises with training bands, which can also have an injury preventive effect.
Injury prevention strength training
After some time without training, one may have lost muscle mass, fitness, and coordination. It can be demotivating to "start over," so one may push through as before this break. Strength training should be done correctly, and a good tip is not to train to exhaustion and not with the same load all the time. It may be wise to start with weights that are 20-30% lighter than the previous session. Train the whole body each time. To ensure that you are training correctly, you can check out skadefri.no.
Also read: Best leggings for strength training.
An important prerequisite is that one plans their training to minimize the risk of injury. It is much about having the right progression so that both the mind and body have enough time to adapt.
How to stay injury-free?
Have you experienced holding back both in training and at work due to injuries? It can be tough to start training back after an injury. The most important motivational factor is maintaining continuity in training. This also yields results both in training and at home.
Also read: Get started with training!
To stay injury-free, it is at least as important to take an extra rest day if your body needs it. The principle revolves around gradually adapting to the new training routine. The main principle when restarting after a break is to have a gradual increase in each session, and feel free to spend 2-4 weeks ramping up depending on how long your break has been.
*If you are unsure about which exercises to perform for your injuries, contact a personal trainer or doctor.
How to improve posture
Good posture is recognized by the spine being stacked so that muscles, tendons, and joints neither get pinched nor overloaded. In a daily life filled with a lot of sitting on the couch, at school, and in the office, this can affect body posture. The result can be discomfort, while the body feels weaker and not upright in a straight line. Simple exercises can help prevent this.
Single-leg glute bridge
Sitting a lot can lead to a sway in the lower back, so strengthening the glute muscles and core muscles is important. This exercise increases activation of the core muscles due to uneven weight distribution when the legs are raised.
How to perform the exercise:
- Lie on your back with knees bent, feet secured on the ground and hands at your sides.
- Lift your hips by pressing one heel into the ground, so that one leg is extended straight out and the other is at a 90-degree angle from the knees.
Hold the top position for 1-3 seconds and repeat the exercise 10-20 times. If the exercise is challenging, it is also possible to perform a double-leg glute bridge by lifting your body with both legs at the same time.
Face pull
Another factor contributing to poor posture is forward-leaning shoulders, caused by leaning forward at work and not actively using the muscles on the back of the body.
How to perform the exercise:
- Stand upright with one foot in front of the other for better balance.
- Using a training band or other equipment, hold this at head height with straight arms.
- Pull the arms towards the temples to reach a double bicep position.
Hold for a few seconds and then return to the starting position. Repeat the exercise 10-20 times.
Chest stretch
Another cause of forward-leaning shoulders can be tight chest muscles, and it may therefore be wise to stretch these muscle groups.
How to perform the exercise:
- Sit in a seated position or stand with a straight back.
- Lift the arms to the sides of the body.
- Pull the arms back towards the spine until you feel a stretch.
Hold the position statically for 30-60 seconds.
Universal position
Just as one can have a sway in their lower back, it is also possible to have the opposite case with excessive arching in the lower back.
How to perform the exercise:
- Lie on your side with one leg bent and foot placed on the inside of the opposite knee, gripping the bent knee with the hand closest to the floor.
- Place the top arm behind on the floor to achieve a full twist in the body.
Hold for 1-3 minutes and repeat on the opposite side.
Other core exercises
In addition to these exercises, other well-known exercises can also be performed to strengthen the core muscles. The classic plank, side raise plank, and sit-ups are preventive for poor posture.
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