The traumatologist spoke about the risks of excessive exercise for the spine

Big-time sports are inevitably associated with tremendous physical exertion. Some athletes are constantly plagued not only by injuries to their face, knees, or ligaments, but also to their spine. Kirill Zhuravlev, an orthopedic traumatologist at SM Clinic, told Izvestia on November 24 about the dangers of such injuries.

As the doctor explained, almost 70% of spinal injuries are associated with intense exercise in sports — during training or competitions. Hockey players, weightlifters, gymnasts, snowboarders and extreme athletes are at special risk.

According to Zhuravlev, even the most experienced hockey players are not immune from injury.

"Quite often, hockey players are plagued by vertebral fractures and dislocated intervertebral discs. The reason for this condition is sudden movements: turns at high speed, acceleration, violent collisions with rivals and falls on the ice. Very often, an athlete does not have time to group in time, and the result is a serious injury to the cervical or thoracic region," said the orthopedic traumatologist.

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No less risky are weightlifting and powerlifting. Lifting weights (barbells or kettlebells) not only develops muscle strength, flexibility, coordination, strengthens ligaments and joints, but also creates a strong axial load on the spine. When an athlete constantly performs exercises with a barbell weighing 20-30 kg — squats, lowers the barbell to his chest or lifts it from the floor — this can lead to wear of the intervertebral discs or pinching of the nerve roots of the spinal cord. Subsequently, all this can develop into serious health problems, including the appearance of back hernias.

Skiing and snowboarding are popular among adrenaline junkies, but they also have their dangers.

Most often, skiers are injured in the cervical and lumbar spine. In about 60% of cases, this is due to falling from a height or descending a steep track, such as in slalom. Big-time sports are full of unpredictable situations, despite the high level of physical fitness of athletes.

The doctor emphasized the importance of proper warm-up, technique control, and moderate increase in exercise.

"Athletic loads, of course, are useful, but without understanding your abilities and knowledge of the anatomy of the spine, injury can happen unexpectedly," warns Zhuravlev.

If, nevertheless, injury could not be avoided, modern medicine offers effective solutions. One of them is the replacement of intervertebral discs. This is a minimally invasive surgery that allows you to restore the functions of the spine and minimize the rehabilitation period.

According to the doctor, this technique shows good results, especially in severe injuries, when conservative treatment does not bring results.

A recent study has shown that even moderate physical activity can slow down the development of Alzheimer's disease. Scientists have been monitoring almost 300 elderly people with early signs of the disease for 9-11 years and found that physical activity does not reduce the number of amyloid plaques in the brain, but reduces the accumulation of tau proteins associated with memory and cognitive impairment. In the more active participants, these signs were reduced by half.

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