Bodybuilding Injuries

Bodybuilders from the 70s and 80s like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rachel McLish were instrumental in making bodybuilding what it is today. Although there are thousands of male and female, professional and amateur bodybuilding competitions around the world each year; thousands of athletes that utilize bodybuilding techniques to condition their bodies for their primary sport; and millions of recreational bodybuilders hitting their local gym equipment daily, some sports agencies still fail to accept bodybuilding as a sport. Whether considered a sport or not, bodybuilding is a physical endeavor that can produce a number of injuries.

What Exactly Is Bodybuilding?

It’s important to realize what bodybuilding entails to best understand the injuries it can produce. Competitive-level bodybuilding shouldn’t be confused with strongman or lifting competitions, as bodybuilding doesn’t involve agility or physical strength. The specific aspects and categories of bodybuilding competitions may vary slightly, but the overall premise is the size, balance, and conditioning of muscle mass. These are also the focal points of most non-professional bodybuilders. The posing that shows off these muscular features is also highly important in competitive bodybuilding.

Most bodybuilders use what’s called cutting and bulking. The bulking phase occurs throughout most of the year. It involves full-body muscle gains and sculpture through weight training, nutrition, and dietary supplements. There are a variety of weight training techniques used by bodybuilders. Some bodybuilders use moderate weights and continue repetitions until muscle failure occurs. Other bodybuilders prefer a limited number of repetitions and sets using heavy weights. Whatever training tactic is being used, bodybuilders usually spend countless hours each day in the gym. The cutting phase generally starts around 12 weeks before a competition and involves rapidly decreasing body fat through calorie restrictions and aerobic exercise.

Most bodybuilding injuries occur during weight training. Common causative factors include:

* overtraining
* improper techniques
* using more weight than can be handled or controlled safely
* having an incompetent spotter
* inadequate stretching
* not balancing nutrition and rest with workouts
* ignoring minor injuries

What Are Some Common Bodybuilding Injuries?

Shoulder Dislocation

The most mobile joint in the body is the shoulder joint, making it an area highly prone to a number of injuries. The scapula (socket) and the humerus (ball) are the bones making up the shoulder. The joint is supported by a surrounding joint capsule made up of ligaments. The rotator cuff is a combination of four muscles and tendons covering the joint capsule. Any of these structures can be injured during weightlifting.

One common shoulder injury among bodybuilders is a shoulder dislocation. This injury occurs when the humerus bone separates from the scapula bone within the shoulder joint as the shoulder either slips too far forward, backward, or downward. The most common slippage is in the forward direction. The humerus may partially separate from the socket, which is called a partial subluxation, or completely come out of the socket.

Symptoms of a dislocated shoulder include:

* pain and tenderness around the shoulder joint
* localized swelling, heat, and redness
* significant to complete loss of shoulder mobility
* the muscles surrounding the joint may spasm

Shoulder dislocations shouldn’t be confused with shoulder separations, which involve a different joint called the acromioclavicular (AC) joint.

Weight Lifter’s Back: Lumbar Strains And Sprains

The lumbar area is located across the lower back. It’s an area commonly injured during pushing and pulling activities, such as those involved in a bodybuilder’s weightlifting training. A lumbar strain is when one or more of the extensor, flexor, or oblique muscles become stretched or torn. Strains may also involve the tendons associated with any of the lumbar muscles. Alternatively, a lumbar sprain is when the ligaments in the lumbar area become stretched or torn. The tearing and/or stretching may be the result of picking up a weight too heavy for the muscles, tendons, or ligaments to withstand -or- from degeneration caused by repetitive usage of the structure. Both strains and sprains are graded based on the degree of injury to the tissue fibers:

Grade I - stretching or microscopic tearing of the affected fibers.
Grade II - less than 90% of the affected fibers are torn.
Grade III - 90% or more of the affected fibers are torn.

The neck muscles, pectoralis, hamstrings, biceps, triceps, and deltoids are other commonly strained areas in bodybuilding. The knees and elbows are some other commonly sprained areas.

Tendinitis

From the forearms to the feet, tendinitis is a common injury in bodybuilding due to the various planes of motion bodybuilders take their various body parts through on a daily basis. Tendons are tough, flexible bands of fibrous tissue that connect the skeletal muscles in the body to their corresponding bones. As a muscle contracts, it causes the tendon connected to it to glide. In turn, the tendon pulls upon the bone connected to its opposite end. This chain is what creates a movement. Tendinitis most often occurs when a tendon is irritated from overuse or repetitive use. This causes the tendon to become inflamed. Movement of the connected muscle becomes painful and there may be localized tenderness and visible swelling over the affected tendon.