Muscle damage: risk factors and tips on how to prevent it

Every athlete knows that preventing muscle injuries is crucial, because an injury disrupts the rhythm of your training and stops you from achieving the goals you have set yourself. Muscle damage also obviously affects your other everyday activities.

To prevent muscle or joint injury, it is important to achieve a balance between bones, tendons and muscles, as it is at the junction between these where the risk of injury is greatest. It is therefore important to be aware of the risk factors that can trigger an injury:

• Age.
• Previous injuries.
• Strength and flexibility problems.
• Fatigue.
• Nutritional deficiencies.
• Failing to warm up properly and not stretching adequately at the end of the activity.
• Changing the equipment you use for the activity.
• Changingthe surface on which you do the sport.

But there are also some basic rules to help prevent and avoid this type of injury.

Tips on how to prevent muscle damage

Preventing muscle damage is in your hands and it’s very easy to do if you follow these tips:

• Warm up and stretch. Warming up prepares the body for physical activity, prevents muscle injuries and optimises sporting performance. Afterwards, at the end of the workout, it’s important to stretch your muscles so that they regain their flexibility and can return to their resting state. Start by stretching your large muscle groups and then specific muscles.
• Train correctly and avoid reaching the point of fatigue. The risk of injury increases considerably when the muscle is fatigued, so you should focus your training onavoiding fatigue by adjusting your loads and performance demands. It’s also important to rest. Take a proper break between sets to allow your muscles to recover.
• Gradually increase the intensity of the exercise. The locomotor system has to gradually increase its capacity to cope with physical demands, as must the skeletal system. Therefore, increasing the intensity little by little makes them more robust and stronger, while also protecting your cartilage.

• Follow a suitable diet. Diet is a key factor in preventing muscle injury as it is the source of nutrients for energy and muscle development. Eating well helps to maintain your performance levels while also warding off fatigue and the risk of injury.
• If you are injured, undergo rehabilitation. After suffering a muscle injury, rest and rehabilitation are important. Don’t rush, to avoid a recurrence and avoid injuring another muscle area.

• Work your CORE. This muscle training is all about achieving balance and stability between the muscle groups that make up your core, in order to prevent injuries. Its function is to provide stability to the body and it is composed of several groups: upper part (dorsal, lumbar and cervical area), lower part (pelvic floor muscles), anterior part (abdominals), posterior part (gluteus, paraspinal, dorsolumbar and deep trunk muscles) and core stability is provided by the transversus abdominis muscle.
• Food supplements. Magnesium is a very useful mineral for preventing muscle injuries and avoiding fatigue, as it plays a key role in energy production in the cells. For example, one of the most complete supplements for athletes containing magnesium and vitamin B6, which is also natural, is Keriba Sport, made from fresh pomegranate extract. This food supplement supports joint health due to its anti-inflammatory effect and because it inhibits the breakdown of cartilage. As well as helping to reduce muscle damage, it delays the onset of exhaustion, reducing tiredness and fatigue, making you more efficient with less training. So it boosts your sporting performance.