Sports Medicine
Dr. Ken Kinakin
D.C., CSCS
Dr. Ken Kinakin is a sport medicine doctor, chiropractor, certified strength and conditioning specialist and personal trainer! He’s also the author of the book “Optimal Muscle Training” and has competed in bodybuilding and powerlifting for over 20 years. Dr. Kinakin lectures around the world to doctors and personal trainers on the areas of weight-training, rehabilitation and nutrition. He is also the clinic director for the AIM Health & Wellness clinic (see www.aimhealthgroup.com), with a rehabilitation and training centre in Mississauga, Ontario. Dr. Kinakin founded the Society of Weight-Training Injury Specialists (SWIS), an organization that educates and certifies doctors, therapists and personal trainers in the area of exercise muscle testing, rehabilitation and treatment of weight training injuries (see www.swis.ca).
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Top 10 Most Accident Causing Exercises
Q. What are the top 10 most accident prone exercises you see bodybuilders do? Those that lead to the most injuries that are simply exercises that are not needed when other exercises are safer and just as if not more effective.
A. When assessing the injury risk of exercises, two things have to be taken in consideration. The first consideration is the bodybuilders own personal biomechanics which is the length of the limbs and the muscle insertions. I am a big believer in contraindicated people instead of contraindicated exercises. You shouldn't do certain exercises based on your own personal biomechanics and that is usually determined through a trial and error process. The second consideration is the modification of the exercise and turning a good exercise into a riskier exercise with no benefit. Here is the top 10 exercises people modify that increases the risk potential without increasing the benefit.
1. Leg Press - Bringing the sled down so far that it raises your pelvis off the machine. This takes the normal curve in your lower back out and increases the risk of a herniated disc dramatically.
2. Preacher Bench Barbell Curls - Rounding your shoulders forward and flexing your neck put excessive stress in the cervical discs and potentially herniating a disc. I personally know 2 bodybuilders that this exercise injury ended their bodybuilding career.
3. Preacher Bench Barbell Curls (Second Problem) - Having your elbows at the bottom of the preacher bench pad and hyperextending the elbow thereby potentially tearing a bicep muscle.
4. Standing Barbell Shoulder Press - Many people in an effort to lift more weight lean back alot when pressing the bar overhead but this loads the facet joints in lower back potentially causing you back pain.
5. Dumbell Flys - A common exercise modification is lowering the dumbells to get an extra stretch in the pecs, but this can also stretch the pec muscles too much and potentially causing a pec tear.
6. Barbell Bench Press To The Neck - this is an exercise that puts tremendous stress through the pecs and shoulder capsule and if performed must be done with low weight and high reps.
7. Stiff Legged Deadlifts - This exercise is many times performed by standing on a bench to get an extra stretch, but the hamstrings stopped being used once the bar passes below the knee, so the extra stretch really doesn't build the hamstrings more and only loads the lower back excessively.
8. Dumbell Bench Press - this is an excellent exercise that can cause an injury when you finish the exercise by lowering the dumbells by your side onto the floor. This puts extreme unnecessary stress through the shoulder capsule. This is the most common shoulder injury mechanism I see in the clinic.
9. Deadlifts - When pulling from the floor, many people straighten their legs while the bar is still on the floor and creating excessive stress on the lower back discs.
10. Squats - Many bodybuilders do high bar squats with a heavy weight and this can put excessive stress on the lower neck potentially injuring the joint.
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