Weightlifting Sports And Hernias

Hernias rarely occur in strength sports, with most of the injuries instead being to the shoulders and lower back. Weightlifting consistently demonstrated a low injury rate over nearly two decades, according to a study published in 1994 in the "Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research." Most weightlifting sports emphasize technique and spend extra time developing the core musculature. Consult your doctor and a certified coach before attempting to participate in any strength sport.

Weightlifting

Weightlifting remains the oldest official strength sport, appearing in the first modern Olympics in 1896. The sport has changed a bit over the decades, but still requires you to put as much weight as you can overhead in two lifts -- the snatch and the clean and jerk. Despite some athletes putting more than twice their body weight overhead, the incidence of hernia remains low. In a six-year study published in the "Journal of Athletic Training" in 1999, there was not a single reported incidence of hernia occurrence.

Powerlifting

Powerlifting first became an official sport in the 1960s, with the first world championships held in York, Pennsylvania, in 1964. Powerlifting requires you to move limit weights in the squat, bench press and deadlift. Like weightlifting, hernias rarely occur, and in powerlifting the most common injury is to the shoulder, with one injury occurring for approximately every 2,000 hours of training and competition, according to a study published in the "American Journal of Sports Medicine" in 2002.

Technique

Unlike many other sports where lifting is something done to assist the sport, in competitive strength sports, lifting is the sport. The emphasis for the beginner remains technique. Some coaches have been known to have an athlete start with a broomstick to focus exclusively on learning technique. Good exercise technique functions together with sound biomechanical principles -- using your body correctly allows you to lift more with less risk of injury. This is the basis behind a development program -- learn technique and avoid injury. Learning to control your breathing and maintain proper pressure in your abdomen is part of the training, and develops core stability.

Core Strength

Four out of the five lifts contested in powerlifting and weightlifting -- the only exception being the bench press -- not only require core strength, but build it as well. Moving up and down with a large amount of weight on your shoulders requires skill, but also a strong, stable core to keep from collapsing under the strain. Many strength athletes train their abdominals very hard for this reason, using heavy, weighted situps and side bends to develop core strength. Between good technique, proper breathing and a strong core, strength athletes do many things that help them avoid herniation.