Common Injuries in Crossfit And How to Manage Them

Injuries are a significant consideration of any serious crossfit training. If you get them, you need to manage them correctly. If you have never had a serious injury, you want to do everything you can top prevent one. Some types of injury are heavily correlated to the type of training or sport. In this article, we examine the most common types of injuries encountered during crossfit training, how to prevent them and how to manage these injuries if you are unfortunate enough to be the recipient. These are the most commonly reported ailments:

Tendonitis (Tennis Elbow).

This is an important condition to mention as many beginner crossfit enthusiasts report this as an injury in their training. While this condition is most commonly caused from repetitive wrist movements, it has also been caused from strenuous chin-up or bar activity when their individual trains too hard in the early stages of the crossfit career or comes back after a long period of time off.

The good news about this type of injury is that (if managed correctly) it will rarely cause any kind of permanent damage or serious problems, but while it persists it will be big impediment to your training and the discomfort and pain caused to the sufferer will be generally unpleasant.

If you suspect that you have this injury you should follow the following steps:

1. Stop all training immediately and apply ice to the injury.
2. Rest for a few days and see a medical practitioner. Diagnosis is important.
3. Follow the advice of your medical professional for recovery and rehabilitation. It is still possible to engage in some exercise while this injury is recovering, but it should be done so in accordance with health professionals. There are a lot of very effective treatments for this injury. In certain circumstances it may be necessary to seek the help of a physiotherapist to find the most effective treatment for your own individual situation.
4. After recovery, engage in your training gradually. Introduce the exercise that caused the injury slowly.

 Lower Back Pain.

Most commonly caused during strength related workouts when the person training does not use correct technique or if they are applying excessive stress to their workouts. Obviously the most effective combatant to this injury is to focus on using correct technique. This will also help prevent any serious back related injury. If you are suffering any kind of mild lower back pain during your workouts, you should have plenty of rest.

You should use correct weights (do not overdo it) and apply increases at a sensible rate. If you still suffer pain, then you should probably discontinue these exercises altogether until you have isolated the root cause of the problem or build up the core strength in your body to support your lower back properly.

Sprains

The most commonly reported accident related injury (according to Sydney Crossfit trainer Karl Robertson) was a sprain when dismounting from the bars or ropes, or sometimes an awkward movement during the exercise. Crossfit trainees learn very early on that landing properly on your feet is important and to ensure there are no obstacles on the ground that will cause you to roll your ankle. Once the injury has taken place you need to follow all of the necessary steps to prevent further damage and promote a quick recovery:

1. Rest the injury straight away.
2. Apply ice to the injured area as soon as possible
3. Elevate the injury to reduce pressure on the injured area
4. Manage your re-entry back into training and stop straight away if you feel that you are starting training again too soon due to the injury becoming aggravated.