I hurt my foot/ankle the other day during training. I don't know the exact term for it in English (contusion? sprained ankle?). In any case, I'm on crutches for a couple of weeks, and God knows how long it'll be until I can play again. Maybe months... This got me thinking: I guess most of you here have suffered from foot/ankle/knee injuries at some point. How did you keep fit, from a badminton perspective? Any good tips on physical activity of a slightly more explosive nature than, say, swimming or bike riding? Or maybe somebody has found a way of coping mentally with not being able to play for weeks? ;-) Oh, the pain of it all!
I tore something in my ankle when I rolled it. If you were there, you'd hear a pop. Then my ankle turned purple then I knew I tore something for sure. This put me out for the next 2 days, but I immediately started physiotheorapy and was back playng badminton a week from the tear. My ankle is much stronger now too I may add.
For conditioning, I run on an indoor track that has a somewhat soft surface to avoid impact injuries from repeated pounding. Not too fast, my goal is to run a mile in under 9 minutes and sustain that pace for 2.5 to 3 miles. Once I get to that level, I switch to shorter, faster runs of 1 mile followed by interval sprints (run a quarter mile to warm up, then sprint as fast as I can for 100 yards, walk fast a bit, sprint again, etc.). After finishing on the track I go through a series of stretches while still warm to maintain/improve flexibility. This takes 20 minutes. I also do the same stretches after playing badminton. IMHO, stretching helps heal muscle pulls, but I wouldn't recommend you try too much without seeing a sports therapist first. I do know the stretches a therapist gave me for a tennis(or badminton) elbow were more effective when I did them after running. To avoid knee injuries I do leg curls on a weight machine to strengthen my hamstrings. A Danish badminton coach said that players have very strong quadriceps (front of leg) and the hamstrings (back of leg) need to be strong to keep things in balance. I can't even deal with the frustration of knowing my friends are going to play while I have to go to work, so I have no advice for you there. Hope you get well soon.
I sprained my ankle fairly badly last winter (the first time I had played badminton in more than a decade). I did take about a week off at one point, but was able to cope and manage by the following three solutions: 1. I got a pair of very supportive, three quarter height shoes - ASICS Skeet Gel model volleyball shoes (see my review in the shoe review section of this website). The extra height and support on these indoor court shoes, not to mention the great traction compared to my old tennis shoes, has made a huge difference. Although the ASICS were expensive ($74 U.S.) they are well worth the money and a year later, I still highly recommend them. I think part of the reason I sprained my ankle was that my old shoes were too narrow (and thus not very stable) and had outdoor soles with little traction on a wooden indoor floor. 2. I got an ankle brace. I had a neoprene (material used in scuba diving wetsuits) brace with a tape wrap. This kept me from re-twisting my ankle when done properly; however, maintaining the proper tension on the tape wrap was tricky and I would often have to re-wrap the tape because it was too tight. 3. I began doing various ankle stretches and stretching more in general. Good luck with the recuperation. You may be able to get back to playing earlier than you think if you take measures like the ones I did and if you play with less competitive players at first.
