All sports cause injuries, but of all sports,
CrossFit seems to have the worst reputation. Once primarily favored by hardcore military types and professional fitness trainers, CrossFit has joined the mainstream in the past decade, with everyone from stay-at-home moms to middle-aged businesspeople pursuing the program’s lung-burning benefits. It’s undeniable that CrossFit has helped countless people lose weight, build muscle, and increase their endurance in the past few years. However, the program’s enormous popularity among non-athletes has led to a reputation as one of the most
high-risk fitness programs in the world. The heavy loading, technical lifts, and high-intensity time restraints can pose a serious risk for non-athletes, who may lack training in safe fitness techniques. The best way to prevent CrossFit injuries is to select a facility with well-trained coaches who are committed to minimizing risk factors. However, there are also many steps you can take as an athlete to protect yourself from injury. One option is to wear a neoprene compression sleeve to support and stabilize your muscles during your workout. Here are some of the most common CrossFit injuries, and the compression sports sleeves that can help prevent them.
Elbows
Bad form and poor flexibility during CrossFit can cause a variety of elbow injuries. The most common is
elbow tendonitis, or tennis elbow, a condition resulting in pain and inflammation of the outside of the forearm. Classified as a repeated stress injury, elbow tendonitis is caused by thousands of repetitive, stressful movements, such as pull-ups, push-ups, and lifts. Symptoms can last anywhere from 3 to 12 weeks. The solution: in addition to adjusting your technique and stretching before your workout, you can wear a compression sleeve such as the ES3 Elbow Compression Sleeve to help promote circulation and prevent injury.
Wrists
Almost every CrossFit exercise places strain on the wrists, making them one of the most commonly injured body parts in the program. Ring dips, pull-ups, and pushups can all place significant stress on the wrists by forcing them to support the weight of the entire body. Weightlifting also poses a significant risk for wrists, especially in lifts which include a backward extension.
The solution: Work closely with a trainer to slowly
build your conditioning before taking on more difficult challenges. Wearing a compression sports sleeves like the WS6 Wrist Compression Sleeve can also reduce your risk of injury and provide much more support than cloth or tape wraps.
Legs
Sprains, fractures, IT Band Syndrome, and Achilles Tendonitis are some of the most common injuries in CrossFit. In
IT Band Syndrome, the iliotibial band which runs from the hip to the knee becomes injured by repetitive, rapid motions and improper form.
Achilles Tendonitis is caused when the Achilles tendon attached to the back of the calf muscle becomes strained and overused. The solution: This advice goes for all the injuries on this list—don’t be a hero. If you have sustained an injury, “working through the pain” is only going to put you at risk for more injury. To support your muscles as they heal and reduce your risk of injury in the future, we recommend a calf compression sports sleeve such as the CS6 Calf Compression Sleeve.
Knees
We’ve already written at length about how compression sports sleeves protect your knees, so we won’t go into too much detail here. Suffice it to say that knee injuries are extremely common among CrossFit enthusiasts due to the abundance of weightlifting movements like squats, snatches, and clean-and-jerk lifts. Improper lifting techniques can cause
ACL sprains (when the ACL ligament in the knee is over-rotated or hyper-extended),
Runner’s Knee (when weak quad muscles cause the knee to be misaligned), dislocations, and fractures. The solution: Work with a trainer to identify whether or not you are positioning your knees correctly while you lift. To guard against injury, be sure to wear compression knee sleeves like the KS7 Knee Compression Sleeve during your workout.
How OS1st keeps you injury free
Whether you’re experiencing pain in your elbows, wrists, legs, knees, or miscellaneous body part, our medical-grade compression sports sleeves have been proven to provide warmth, support, and pressure that can assist recovery and reduce your risk for injury.
Click here to view our full product catalogue, and view our blog to learn more about compression can help injury-proof your workout.
