I wanted to write a quick blog to give everyone an insight into how lockdowns have led to various injuries in the community and how you can prevent this happening to you!
Injuries usually occur from one of two different events:
- Traumatic injury
- Sudden change in physical activity load
Both of these are affected by lockdown.
Traumatic injury
When we frequently perform an activity, our bodies become better at performing that skill. Equally, training in community sport prepares our bodies for weekly matches. In lockdown we are unable to perform our regular activity. This increases your risk of injury when we return to sport and physical activity post lockdown. After each lockdown, we saw an increase in traumatic injuries from clients returning to sport.
To help prevent these injuries I encourage you to continue to be active over lockdown but specifically try to replicate your usual sporting movements at home. If you play footy, have a kick, jump for marks and get some running (both interval and sprints) in. If you play golf, have some swings in the backyard, keep your walking up and perform some exercises to keep your legs, core and back active!
Sudden change in physical activity load
Most non-traumatic injuries occur after doing too much too soon after doing too little for too long. In lockdown we often have more time and want to become active and get fit. This is a great thing but make sure you do it in a gradual fashion that doesn’t shock your body. Conversely if you are someone who frequently goes to the gym or participates in a lot of sport, it is important that you continue to be active over lockdown.
I have seen countless patients post lockdowns who have had significant changes in their physical activity (both increased and decreased) load that has led to injury!! Even though we are in lockdown we want to be as consistent as we can with our exercise. If you have are already highly active, aim to keep it up. If you are coming from a low level of physical activity take small steps to begin your journey to being more fit and active! For example, if you haven’t jogged in years, don’t jog 5km in your first run, do 2km of walking/jogging and slowly increase the distance jogging.
Exercise is crucial to both physical and mental wellbeing, especially during lockdown. If you have any concerns and questions about your exercise during lockdown feel free to reach out and we can help guide you. We remain open for essential care and can provide guidance over Telehealth.
Stay Safe,
Michael and the team at Watsonia Physiotherapy.