How to protect joints and ligaments during workouts?

Weight training, like any weight training leads to increase the load on the ligaments and joints. Danger lies in that the ligaments may not show for a long time, and then in the most crucial moment can present an unpleasant surprise.

By the nature of my training, my roommates and I often faced with unpleasant pain and joint pain, ligaments and tendons. Personally, I have a sore spot – brushes, especially on the left hand. Other guys often have problems with: knees, elbows and shoulder joints.

With prolonged strength training to the maximum, it will not work completely avoid such pains. But there are several ways which will help protect the ligaments and joints and help maintain them healthy long. About these precautions and methods strengthening the ligaments I will describe below.

• Causes of Joint Injury
• Joint protection methods
• Causes of Ligament Injury
• Ways to protect ligaments
  • And if the ligaments already hurt?

Causes of Joint Injury

The main cause of knee injury is erasure cartilage between the bones. As a result, under load the joint becomes inflamed and pain occurs. Cartilage wear tissue lasts for years, but the greater the load on them and the the worse it is lubricated inside with synovial fluid, the faster wear occurs. That is, the protection of the knee joint is necessary so that it well oiled.

How to make joints accumulate more lubricant for friction reduction? There are several ways to do this:

Joint protection methods

1. The use of drugs that promote water retention in the body. These include most anabolic steroids and some adrenal hormones (e.g., dexomethasone). it I would not recommend a method for beginners to use. Protect joints you are likely to be able to, but there is a risk of acquiring other health problems are far more dangerous.
2. Creatine is a nutritional supplement from the category of sports nutrition, which effectively retains water in the body and helps increase power performance. He holds water for about by 1 -1.5 liters, and improves joint lubrication, though not so good like anabolic steroids.
3. High-quality workout and warm-up before training. In the process warm-ups, in response to physical work and mechanical movement in joints, improves blood circulation in adjacent tissues and more lubrication in the joint itself is released. This way you prepare your joints for hard work and so reduce their wear during training.
4. The use of special bandages: knee pads, elbow pieces and other fixatives can also help preserve the joint. But too their frequent use will not lead to good. But in general the use of such devices, especially in the cold season, to keep joints warm and thereby increase blood circulation in them is very useful.
5. The use of warming ointments will also help in saving joint health. First, they warm the joints and improve blood circulation. Secondly, such ointments often contain useful medicinal substances that also help preserve the joint.

From this list, I consider the most optimal for healthy joints 3rd method. Always a good warm-up helped increase performance and safety training. Especially in this way can be used all year round, which cannot be said about the use creatine and other drugs. Good warming up of the body and joints will help preserve their health.

Causes of Ligament Injury

In fact, ligaments and tendons are one and the same. Only a bunch fastens two bones to each other. And the function of tendons is to attach muscles to bones.

Most often, injury to tendons or ligaments means stretching or delamination. Less commonly, a strain. In very rare cases there is a separation of the tendon from the bone or rupture of the ligaments.

When the ligament is stretched, a stretching pain appears near the joint when performing exercises with a large range of motion. Such injuries allow you to continue to train and perform exercises through the pain. When used in such cases, large weights – an athlete only aggravates his position because ligaments and tendons will not be able to recover.

Injured ligaments are the result of improper training or an exaggeration of one’s real abilities by an athlete. Ligament stretching occurs when its tension is greater the real strength of the bunch itself. For example, when using drugs the strength potential of the biceps was sharply increased, and the ligaments and tendons were not properly prepared. Often this can be found in guys who are engaged in arm wrestling. That is, less than elastic and weaker your ligaments, the easier it is for you to stretch them or even tear. This is especially true when performing exercises with a large range of motion. Or at execution sudden movements.

Ways to protect ligaments

To protect and protect the ligaments from injuries, you need to make them stronger or more elastic. If the tendons are stronger, then their it will be difficult to stretch. Therefore it is better to work in both directions, that is, over strength and elasticity. For this you should:

1. Before each workout, warm up and stretch. Stretching helps to make the ligaments more elastic during the workout. But if you do stretching all the time, you can increase effect duration. It’s like with twine, while you are actively engaged – you have it.
2. To strengthen the ligaments and give them elastic, you can use drugs. These are drugs that contain chondroitin, collagen, glucosamine and omega-3 fatty acids. Chondroprotectors are drugs that stimulate processes. regeneration and slow down the degeneration of cartilage. can be purchased at pharmacies or in sports stores. And you can use a very large amount of jellied meat, if it is cooked from meat with bones for a long time boiling. This is such a folk means for strengthening the ligaments and joints. As well as prophylactic can use ordinary gelatin. For example, constantly cook jelly. So you will enrich your nutrition and, as a result, your body with collagen, which strengthens ligaments.
3. Follow the technique when performing any exercise. Avoid sharp jerking movements. In most cases, they simply don’t are needed, and where necessary, for example, in weightlifting, there athletes have been preparing and training for years, and before each workout well warmed up.

And if the ligaments already hurt?

If you already have pain, then you need:

• For about two weeks, remove all exercises that cause pain
• Buy a retainer on this part of the body and always keep it in warmer
• To relieve inflammation with drugs, for example, you can use indomethacin or another drug or ointment to relieve inflammation
• Knead and warm this part of the body well before each training

After two weeks, you can already slowly pump the injured a bunch of light weights, in the exercise in which you got an injury. You need to do 3-4 sets of 30-50 repetitions in each, so that the injured ligament receives as much blood as possible, and with her many nutrients that will help recover.