Injuries And Bodybuilding

Injuries

Preventing Injuries: OK, this is important so I'm going to repeat it - USE GOOD FORM. Just remember this, if you get injured lifting too much weight it can set you back months or years in your bodybuilding progress. The modern weight room is an example how lawyers can benefit society. Because of lawsuits, most machines in the gym are equipped with safety stops which, if properly positioned, will prevent injury should you get in trouble - USE THEM! If you are doing free weights where safety stops are not available then use spotter(s). Here are other hints to keep from getting injured:

	lat pull-downs: Do these in front of your neck, not behind your neck. The shoulder is very weak when the arms go behind the plane of your body and you risk shoulder injury if you do a behind-the-neck pull-up. Besides, it really doesn't work your lats any better. (click on image for larger view)
	Chest pec dec and flys: Again, don't let your arms go behind the plane of your body. I know it feels good to get that extra stretch but the shoulder is weak in that position. (click on image for larger view)
	Chest and shoulder exercises: Stop when the elbow angle is 90 degrees.
	Leg extensions: Only do the last 15 degrees from leg completely straight, slightly bent, then back to completely straight - otherwise this exercise is really bad for the knees.
	Abs: The crunch is done incorrectly more often than any other exercise. It is very common to see someone whipping their head up which does nothing at all for the abs and risks neck injury to boot. Don't nod your head - keep your shoulders, neck and head immobile - you are focusing on raising your shoulders slowly to the ceiling while staring at a fixed point above you. Don't do a traditional 'sit-up' either, bending at the pelvis is hard on your back and doesn't work the abs much anyway. (click on image for larger view)
picture coming soon	Balanced musculature: Workout everything and keep your muscles in balance, if you don't you will probably end up with joint pain - besides that, it looks really stupid. If you do leg presses and get your quads really strong but neglect you hamstrings it can change the way the kneecap rides and cause pain. Same with the shoulder joint, if you only do chest without doing opposing muscles your huge pecs will curl your shoulders forward like a dry leaf in fall - not a pretty picture huh?
	Squats and leg press: Stop when the knee angle is 90 degrees, don't be bouncin' your butt off your heels unless you want to have surgery on your knees. (click on thumbnail for a larger view)
	Either have a competent spotter or stick to machines and when you use machines make sure to use the safety stops. If you are working out at home alone, then build a self-spotting rig like the one I designed here. The weights in this picture are in position for me to do chest dumbbell press while laying on the floor.
picture coming soon	Be careful picking up 45lb plates, learn to lift properly using your legs. Don't use 100lb plates, even if you are strong its not worth injuring yourself loading a machine.
	'Safety' collars: The modern olympic bar is an engineering marvel. It is designed so that if a bodybuilder gives out and drops one hand, the weights on the low side slide off which makes that side pop up allowing the other side to dump - a built in simple safety feature. If you put on 'safety' collars, you are defeating the safety mechanism. First of all, if this happens shame on everyone involved! If you were benching heavy without a spotter, what on earth were you thinking? If you had a spotter, what the heck were they doing? Granted, if you dump the weights in this fashion you have to hold onto the bar for dear life to keep it from catapulting and severely injuring someone nearby. If carefully used dumping in this fashion can keep your neck from being crushed by a bar. Don't bench without a spotter! Safety collars are fine to use for biceps/triceps exercises where the weights are not in danger of crushing your neck. Although this video clip is funny it shows the safety feature of the olympic bar in action, note how the lifter can dump the weight without causing harm to himself or others. If this lifter was using "safety collars" then a serious injury may have occurred.
	Here is a very funny video clip of an accident that illustrates several important points: Use only a weight you can control If there are no safety stops to limit range of motion then use a spotter! There is really unsafe gym equipment still out there, be careful!

After Getting Injured

If you got injured in the weight room, shame on you! Were you following my advice on avoiding injury? If you were 'ego lifting' with really heavy weights and bad form you have now been set back months in your bodybuilding progress and this is a good time to re-evaluate your fitness and bodybuilding goals and think about a new plan to follow when you are healed.

Be an informed consumer of the medical system. The first step is knowing when to go to the doctor and when to just ice/elevate/compress. There are several excellent books provided free of charge by most HMOs and PPOs which help you decide what the best course of action is, call yours and ask for one. If you are seriously injured, you need to see a doctor but you don't want to waste money on a co-pay if you don't need to. Kaiser's is called "Kaiser Permanente healthwise Handbook", the AMA also puts one out called "Guide to your Family's Symptoms". If you have trouble getting one free from your PPO/HMO, you can click here to buy the excellent The Healthwise Handbook from amazon.

Going to the doctor: When you go to the doctor, try to bring a spouse/friend along with you as you will probably need two set of ears to catch all of what the doctor is saying. You need to help the doctor and explain your goals: if you need to be back to 110% because your make your living playing professional soccer his advice will be different than if you are an office worker and just want to be healed quickly so you can get back to daily activities. Do a little research if you can and come up with a list of questions you want answered, here are some examples:

might physical therapy help this problem?
what surgical options are there (open surgery, arthroscopic, etc) and what are pro's and con's of each?
what is the success rate of this operation? What is the definition of success? What could go wrong?
if I do nothing, what will happen?
how long will it take after surgery before I can lift heavy again?
what exercises must I avoid at the gym? What exercises can I safely do? can I do cardio?

Get a second opinion, especially if surgery is recommended. Surgery is not fun, make sure you really need it before getting it done. If your doctor is supportive, always give physical therapy a try first!

After surgery, the ball is entirely in your court. The operation gets you 20% of the way to being healed, the other 80% is up to you - take physical therapy seriously. You need to choose your physical therapist as carefully as your surgeon as it is just as important. Preferably you need to find one who works with professional sports teams with the type of injury you have. Be proactive, ask your physical therapist for homework assignments.

Working Around Injuries

Everyone gets injured at one time or another, and more active people tend to get injured more. Part of bodybuilding is learning how to train around injuries, if I avoided the gym every time I had an injury I would only train 10 months a year. OK, so you've been injured and gone to the doctor. Because you read my section on what to do if injured before you went to the doctor you have discussed with them what you can and can't safely do at the gym, my suggestions below are generalities so make sure and follow your doctors advice!

INJURY	WHAT YOU CAN PROBABLY STILL DO
foot, ankle	all upper body exercises and abs
foot, ankle	possibly hamstring curls, possibly leg extensions

knee	all upper body exercises and abs

hand, wrist, elbow	for chest: pec deck (where pads press against biceps/triceps)
hand, wrist, elbow	for back: lat pull-downs done using hanging ab straps. Support your triceps from the loops then do a "pull-up", see the back workout section for instructions how to do this exercise at home.
hand, wrist, elbow	all lower body exercises, abs and cardio

shoulder	all lower body exercises
shoulder	cardio
shoulder	others as specified by physical therapist

The trickiest injury to work around is a shoulder injury because all upper body exercises use the shoulder, for this you really need to work with a physical therapist to keep from aggravating your injury. If you get injured, view it as an opportunity to focus on some body part you have neglected. Here is a video showing how you can work around a hand or wrist injury: