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Injury Prevention
by Jo Jo Wyman
July 23, 2005
(JULY 23) Let me guess, your shoulder has a kink in it, your knees are kinda
achy and sometimes when you throw a hook, your wrist tweaks.
Some injuries are painfully hard to avoid, like a head-butt to the face a
fattened lip or that ankle twist. That is why you need to take pre-game
precautions. Because boxing can be very repetitive in its movements,
especially when working on the bags, repetitive poor movements with
misaligned joints are nearly two-thirds of sport injuries.
Poor posture as well as using improper form while exercising can throw us
off. Sound familiar? Hunched over boxing, repetitively throwing punches is
what I mean. Whatever the cause, once a joint gets out of whack and is then
use repetitively-for example, throwing a jab, punch or a hook. It can
strengthen in that misaligned mode, causing those kinks and pains.
Fortunately, you can make your chances of getting injured up to 50% less by
strengthening your CORE. I know you have heard about CORE TRAINING. And by
the way, how often do you stretch? That’s what I thought. Strengthening the
CORE: hips, torso and shoulders will help side line you’re most chronic
injuries tremendously. Case in point: In a recent study published in
Medicine & science in sports & exercise, researchers found that those who
remained free of injuries through the end of their season had 32% greater
hip strength than those who had gotten injured.
Improving your Core strength and coordination will make you more efficient
in everything you do. Most importantly you are going to improve in
flexibility, stability, speed, power, strength, endurance and balance. Being
misaligned can hinder any of these, more that you think. Your body is
fighting its true potential.
One of the best tools for building a strong CORE is a Swiss ball. You know
those rubber air-filled balls at the gym stuffed in a corner. Well grab it,
dust it off and start doing some pushups on it. In a six-week study
published last year in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research,
researchers found that people who added two Swiss-ball sessions to their
weekly training, built midsections that were more than four times stronger
than those who did not use the ball.
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How about those air-filled disks you see floating around. Stand on
those in your fighting stance, squat and shadow-box your fitness
plan should also correct muscular imbalances. The saying goes,
loosen tight areas and strengthen weak ones. And because boxers
fight dominantly one sided, the imbalances are much greater. Despite
your best efforts to avoid injury, you get injured.
Unless you require immediate attention, (stitches, broken bones or
God forbid a KO) you have to get a jump on your treatment. R.I.C.E.
(rest, ice, compression, elevation.) The hardest one REST, I could
never do it, but you can at least PROTECT it. Braces, sleeves,
athletic tape are very helpful in the protection and they aid in
further injury. |
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They can also help minimize pain to get you through that workout you do not
want to miss. ICE immediately if not as soon as possible. When inflammation
is present your body can not heal. Ice prevents the fluid (inflammation)
from collecting so the blood can get in there and heal. COMPRESSION (ace
bandage wrap or something similar) aids in the prevention of fluid
collection and helps the stability of the injury so it can heal in the
correct alignment. ELEVATION, again aiding in that inflammation. Elevation
means above the heart level.
Now that things seem to be healing, and if you haven't been in the gym
already. Do not forget to work your stabilization. Again, that is where
those air disks and Swiss balls come into play. And for that shoulder
stability, break out those medicine balls.
If you are not sure what to do with all those balls and air-filled disk, you
will want to seek out a gym that specializes in core training or keep in
check for a whole new section on "sport specific" polymeric training.
Specializing in boxing.
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