The five most common injuries in fitness and how to prevent them

No matter what your fitness goals are, getting injured is definitely not one of them. But according to a study by the University of Arkansas, injuries related to fitness have increased by 35% in recent years. Justin Price, a personal trainer in San Diego, has a master's degree in literature and also studied biomechanics, which helps him perform exercises and use fitness equipment correctly. According to him, there are two main reasons for injuries caused by fitness.

The first is incorrect posture when exercising, which will make your muscles and bones weaker and weaker in the end. To change this, you need to make sure your computer screen is positioned so that you don't have to lower or raise your body to see it while exercising.

The second reason is that people want to do as many reps as possible and lift as heavy a weight as possible. The thing is that what got you into the gym didn’t happen overnight, so you can’t fix it overnight either.

In other words, those 50 pounds of fat aren't going to disappear instantly just because you do a long, boring marathon of running on the treadmill all at once. First, you should find a qualified personal trainer to make sure your exercise technique is correct, and try to imagine yourself as the trainer so that you don't make exercise goals too personal.

Foot and ankle

Why: When explaining sports injuries to the foot and ankle, Price starts at the top of the body. "People spend a lot of time in front of a computer just rolling their shoulders," Price says. "When you run, your weight is on the balls of your feet." Wearing running shoes and not balancing properly will cause your heels to be higher than your toes, and this forward tilt makes your feet and ankles bear the brunt of the impact.

Prevention: Price recommends that people should have a pair of running shoes with a low heel, or a pair of casual shoes, trainers or tennis shoes. By distributing the impact throughout the foot, you can prevent plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinitis, anterior compartment syndrome (a crush injury to the front of the ankle), lateral pressure syndrome (a crush injury to the side of the ankle), and bunions.

Reason: Unfortunately, it's another consequence of my damn office job. “We don’t use our butt muscles when we work. Until one day we decide to take up Muay Thai or go to boot camp,” Price said. The result is... hurting your knees? "If you're wearing the wrong shoes or your hip muscles aren't strong and you're unsteady on your feet, all the stress is on your knees." Leg stretches, curls, and compressions won't solve the problem because they don't strengthen the muscles in the feet or hips.

Prevention: "It's better to do lunges. With lunges, your hip and ankle are flexed together, which can stabilize and strengthen the knee," Price says. For better results, do forward and backward lunges, as well as right and left lunges (also called 'one step and one squat').

Reason: As far as your physical health is concerned, in a small space, three times the limit and your day job are both formal. "If people are moving around during the day and just using their upper back, and then they go to the gym and do snatches, their upper back isn't getting the right extension," Price said. "They're straightening and arching out of their lower back, and that can cause neurological damage (sometimes temporary injuries become permanent damage) because the lower back is taking all the stress."

Prevention: Remember to stretch and strengthen your upper back to relieve tension that you may be arching in the office. Price suggests that future deadlifts can be completed by squatting against a wall with straight arms. "Squat against a wall and bring your back toward the wall by pushing your lower pelvis forward. Extend your arms straight out in front of you and try to lift them up to your ears without lifting your back away from the wall," Price says. Any time you do this exercise, it's best to do it standing up—really, because you sit in your office enough, don't you? "Performing the exercise while standing helps the muscles in your body grow bigger," Price says.

Cause: If you are still busy with work, then this is the reason for the shoulder discomfort. That uncomfortable wrist you keep complaining about could become a recipe for a gym injury hours later. "When you type, your arms are constantly tense and moving in and out, which puts constant stress on your shoulders," Price says. "You go to the gym and do chest presses, shoulder presses, pushups, anything that moves your arms back and forth," he says. The result? Supraspinatus tendinitis—an overwork shoulder injury.

Prevention: You need to rotate your arms outward to balance the force on your shoulders, and the best way to do this is with cables. "Grab the cable in front of you and pull it behind your arm, twisting your palm out and back," Price says.

Reason: The incorrect way of exercising the four parts mentioned above will cause your neck to hurt. Price said: "If you just sit and exercise your shoulders, your neck will move with your upper back, but your eyes need to stare at the screen, so you have to bend your neck, which will also be painful for you." As if work is not enough to justify neck pain, you go to the gym and do bench presses with incorrect posture. When you lie on the bench, but your back is not completely attached to the mat, the real trouble begins. "A lack of mobility and extension in your upper back puts stress on your lower back and neck," Price says.

Prevention : Obviously, when we do the bench press, we must make sure our lower back and neck are adequately supported. Then, avoid putting additional stress on your neck by stretching your arms above your head, especially if you already spend a lot of time during the day putting stress on your neck. Finally, strengthen your mid and lower back and improve your posture by rotating your shoulders counterclockwise. "Do pulldowns while sitting on a leg extension machine. Grab the bar in front of you and pull down with your arms straight. Pulldowns work your shoulder blades, not your arms, and move forward three to four inches as you do them," Price says. In simple exercises, you'll feel the movement in your shoulders, and once your shoulders are strong, they can help you maintain correct posture and keep you healthy, whether you're in the office or at the gym.