Starting Badminton After an injury

Discussion in 'Techniques / Training' started by tinh_duyen209, Jun 27, 2009.

  1. tinh_duyen209

    tinh_duyen209 Regular Member

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    hey. I recently injured my mcl (medial caladeral ligament) and medial mensicus for an entire year now. That's because I keep re-injurying it by playing badminton again. I can't stay away from badminton. I re-injured it 3 times from playing badminton again. I wasn't doing much, more like just standing and sitting it back to the other side using half court and my knee just gave out after awhile.

    I started doing exercises that can help strengthen my knee so I go to the school's gym every day just biking for like 20-30 minutes daily with resistance. Well I waited for 3 months before my last injury before I start doing this. I do 20 minutes of biking before I play badminton and on the days I don't play, I do 30 minutes.

    My problem is I'm scared to play still. I am scared to move backwards because I am afraid I'm going to get injured again since I got injured by moving backwards. I keep having this thought in my mind but sometimes when I'm on court, I don't think about it and play fine. I just don't play with people that are extremely good.

    For those who got injured or for those who didn't, what did you do or what do you suggest I do? I don't know how to train myself to play without having the fear of injuring my knee again.
     
  2. spawn

    spawn Regular Member

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    Always get a lot of warmup before the game...
     
  3. bckeen

    bckeen Regular Member

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    hey i'm a physio student and i can give some advice.
    it is good you are doing exercise like biking gym etc... but biking exercise is very different to playing badminton that is why you keep reinjuring yourself, biking does not involve a lot of explosive power or directional changes

    your next step is to do plyometric exercises, exercises which require power, speed,
    however you should do this gradually, for example, bouncing on a trampoline, then move to small jumps on grass, then running in figure 8 to put forces throguh your knee in all directions. then finally i would say your last exercise would be more closely resembling your sport, pretend your playing, do slow lunges at first, stepping back and forth, changing directions, then pick up the speed. it is important you take this slow. you cant just do all this in a week.

    also you should wear a Knee brace, of some kind, you've re-injured it so many times the problem is likely to be chronic. your knee will need extra support, wear a brace when you're doing your exercises.

    proper healing time for MCL and meniscus if following correct physiotherapy treatment is around 4-7wks.

    usually 1st wk or so is for healing, do everything to rid pain
    2nd-3rd week functional exercises if pain permits
    4th week really get strengthening exercises working
    5/6ish weeks get sporting type exercises in.

    feel free to ask any questions, and i'll help as much as possible, but best of all just see a proper physio. they know what to do.
     
  4. neogenesus

    neogenesus Regular Member

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    I hurt my knee when I was doing jump smash to the right side and landed wrong. I advise you to use a knee bracer. It usually very uncomfortable at first, but will break in with time and you can actually forget that you have an injured knee. If your knee has been badly injured, I recommend you to get a maximum protection knee bracer (that actually has a metal joint on each side, not the metal spring one). I used it and I am able to play basketball and badminton which heavily using your knee.
    Plyometrics exercise is great to strengthening your leg muscle and agility.
     
  5. tinh_duyen209

    tinh_duyen209 Regular Member

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    Thanks guys/girls :D

    Today, I was playing badminton with a knee brace (donjoy drytex hinged knee brace). It's so heavy than the ace knee brace i bought at rite aid because of the metal sidebars to keep my knee in place. It was a little uncomfortable and I wasn't able to move around much or maybe I'm just being paranoid about the injury thing.

    I heard biking with resistance is good so I just bike everyday because 1.) it's like doing dynamic stretching, 2.) it gets my heart pump and ready because i just start sweating like crazy after just biking for 10 minutes. My heart rate went up to like 180 ish. 3.) I heard it's a good way to strengthen my knee. So it's like a 3 in 1 kind of deal.

    I have no problem moving to the top right corner, top left corner bottom right corner but I always seem to can't get to the bottom left. Sometimes, i can get there, but sometimes I just can't. I just hate how I'm moving kinda slow like I can't get to the birdie fast enough with this injured knee. I have no way of increasing my speed because in order to increase my speed, I have to start running, but my knee isn't strong enough to run yet so I can only bike for now.

    I been getting compliments about my knee though. My other friends saw me moving and they thought my knee is fine and it looks as if I'm not injured at all. I think ima try other things after several more weeks. I have only been biking daily for like 2 weeks.
     
  6. gingerphil79

    gingerphil79 Regular Member

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    U got to build it up slowing, doin like skipping and running hard on the spot and exercises of this sort which wil get the knee used to fast explosive movements.

    Also afta exercise, try ice on ur knee for 5 mins jus to help calm it down a bit.

    Def any kind of knee support is good, I ave a tubular support in my bag as I wud ave the odd probs with my knees. The 1 you r using suds very heavy duty in my opinion, wot about a lighter 1 which will give gud support but also give u a bit more movement.

    Also footwork is important. Esp moving forwards, make sure you land heel first rolling onto the ball of the foot, it shud be very smooth movement and not a smacking down movement as this is very bad on the knees or jus landing wit the flat of the foot can cause injury.
     
    #6 gingerphil79, Jul 2, 2009
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2009
  7. tinh_duyen209

    tinh_duyen209 Regular Member

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    I'm just too scared to move. Today, my partner and I was playing against these women in their 40's and I feel very bad. I just have this mentality problem about getting injured and for some reason, I keep getting nervous. I guess I just need to practice footwork more and always stay on the toes and feel more confident about my shots. It's just the girl that i play with, she keeps on saying this is wrong, or run faster or etc. It just makes me more nervous since I'm still on recovery. My knee brace is somewhat heavy though. I want to start training to speed up but I can't run long as it would injured the knee more when it's recoverying. All i can do is just bike with resistance or work out on the elliptical before i start playing. I just feel so terrible right now. After we finish, i talked to my partner and she said, no you're fine. You're moving more than last time. Just don't get nervous. AHHHH!!. Bad day today >_< ..
     
  8. ssssaaamm

    ssssaaamm New Member

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    i had a shoulder injury a few months ago, was so bad i had to pull out of the tournament i was at. left it for a while but it came back a couple of months later, got a bit worse so i decided to go to an osteopath. he was really good and he fixed it straight away and he said with any injury u need to put ice on it after excersice. so all i can say is warm up properly, cool down properly and after you play try to put ice on it for 5-10 mins every hour
     
  9. dimiberbs

    dimiberbs Regular Member

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    Sorry for bumping this old thread but I have the exact same problem as the creator of this post. I've injured my MCL a few months ago and last month I finally resorted to seeing a specialist ( that's how I found out about the MCL ).

    He did some assessments on my knee and just by moving it around a bit he could tell that it was my MCL that was giving me all those soreness and pain around the inside of my left knee. He recommended a 1 month break from badminton, the only forms of exercises I was permitted to do were cycling, jogging and strengthening exercises like straight leg raises, hamstring curls.

    I did what I was told and after 5 weeks of doing all that I went back to the court for the first time last Thursday. Even though the knee wasn't 100 % I felt ready and I played a few rounds of doubles. The knee felt fine except for some soreness which I thought was normal and throughout the session I was being cautious by not using the left knee for lunges to the front or back.

    Unfortunately after that night my knee felt really stiff and the pain has been increasing ever since. Unlike tinh_duyen209 I didn't feel my knee giving out or certainly felt that I've reinjured myself during the game.

    Maybe I wasn't ready afterall.. but it sucks knowing because I've been working hard to strengthen my muscles around the left knee.
     
  10. dimiberbs

    dimiberbs Regular Member

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    I've not* reinjured myself during the game... my apologies for the error.

    It's just really frustrating because I don't know what's causing all this pain.
     
  11. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    I had an MCL injury. In fact, the most useful thing was the physiotherapy. I would be able to play but keep getting a sore knee and tightness at the back of the leg for over a week after the badminton. It was very frustrating.

    The physio I saw (I saw her very late!) immediately diagnosed MCL injury. She said it was fibrosed. She gave me four sessions of physio to break down the fibrous tissue. I tell you, it really hurt. She also gave me some acupuncture. After that, the knee got much better and I have gradually been able to increase my play to a good level again.

    I think I was lucky it only needed four sessions. In fact, after the first session of physio, I definitely felt a difference and improved so much, we didn't continue with the prescribed 8 session course.

    I didn't do any strengthening exercise in the gym...just everything on court:)
     
  12. dimiberbs

    dimiberbs Regular Member

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    Hey there ! that sounds a lot like what I'm currently going through ! Sore knee and tightness at the back... and a tinge of pain at where the MCL is after a game of badminton :(.

    What exactly is fibrous though ? I should probably google it or bring it up on my next visit to the physio.

    I didn't go to the gym, I did all the flexing / stretching at home. How long did you take to recover and get back to the court though ? was your mcl injury a serious one ?
     
  13. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    Fibrous tissue is overgrowth of tissue due to the healing process. It also sticks to areas where it should not stick. I never got the twinge over the MCL so never made a connection.

    Because i was undiagnosed for a long time, I spent a year out of the game. I was rather busy at the time so it didn't bother me that much...until I was asked to play in competitions again. Then I thought I had to get something done.

    After the physio sessions, it took me half a year to get back to a fair level of play (did some private training as well to basically hit more shuttles in a short space of time). Then another year to really get near the level I used to be. Unfortunately, I am older now and have lost the lower leg strength.
     
  14. dimiberbs

    dimiberbs Regular Member

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    I see, my MCL is probably not healed yet because I only gave myself a 5-6 weeks rest whereas you stopped playing for about a year :(. Still I'm glad to know that you're well again and your MCL is no longer giving you problems :).

    Thanks for sharing your experience with me ^_^. Gonna have to consult my physician again :(.
     
  15. visor

    visor Regular Member

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    ^^ you probably should also ask your physician about the possibility of you having a medial meniscus tear combined along with your MCL injury... they often occur together as they're anatomically attached

    an MRI of the knee would be able to detect it
     
  16. alexh

    alexh Regular Member

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    Before you start playing again, it's worth having some sessions with a good badminton coach to make sure your footwork is correct, especially when lunging at the front of the court.
     
  17. dimiberbs

    dimiberbs Regular Member

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    Yeap I would definitely do that, thanks for the tip visor :). MRI cost a bomb over here and it's not covered by my insurance, then again I'm desperate to start playing again, will see what he says in the next meeting !

    @alexh my mate and I have just hired a coach to help us improve on our game last month, I was supposed to join them but I couldn't because of my injury. You're right in emphasizing the importance of footwork though, it was because of bad footwork that I got this injury at the first place.
     

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