Back-to-School Sports: Top Injury Prevention Tips

Pursuit Physical Therapy’s Injury Prevention Tips for Athletes Returning to Sport This Fall in Argyle, TX

As fall sports kick into high gear in Argyle, TX and the surrounding North Texas area, many athletes are lacing up their shoes after a summer break or lighter training schedule. While the excitement to compete is high, this transition period is also when injury risk spikes. A sudden jump in activity—especially without proper preparation—can put extra stress on muscles and joints.

Here are my top injury prevention tips to help you perform your best and stay on the field, court, or track all season long.

Ease Back In — Build on Your Preseason Work

If your team had a preseason, that’s where the foundation was set—gradually ramping up your training volume and intensity before competition begins. Once the game schedule kicks in, the challenge becomes maintaining that base without overloading your body. Sudden jumps in training or competition demands—even after preseason—can still lead to overuse injuries.

Tip: Continue to build workload gradually and take advantage of a lighter practice or recovery day between games. Pay attention to how your body feels week to week and add in extra recovery, warm up, or cool down if needed. 🙂

Prioritize a Proper Warm-Up

Dynamic warm-ups prepare your muscles, joints, and nervous system for sport-specific movements. Skipping this step can leave you stiff and more vulnerable to strains and sprains.

Tip: Spend at least 5–10 minutes on dynamic drills like high knees, walking lunges, lateral shuffles, and movement patterns specific to your sport before every practice or game.

Strengthen the Key Support Muscles

Strong muscles act as shock absorbers and stabilizers for your joints. In-season strength training—especially for the hips, core, and posterior chain—can reduce injury risk and improve performance.

• If you play an overhead sport (like volleyball, tennis, baseball, softball), make sure your warm-up includes a short banded shoulder “priming” routine. These moves may look similar to the shoulder stability exercises we recently shared in our Instagram post. They wake up the smaller stabilizing muscles before you start serving, spiking, or throwing.

• If your sport involves a lot of jumping, lateral movement, and cutting (such as football, soccer, basketball), don’t neglect your ankle health. Adding ankle stability and strengthening work like single-leg balance drills and resisted ankle four-way exercises can help keep your ankles strong and resilient throughout the season. 

Tip: Keep strength work short, focused, and intentional in-season—2× per week can be enough to maintain your gains and prevent breakdown.

Respect Recovery

Your body repairs and strengthens itself between sessions—not during them. Without enough rest, fatigue accumulates and movement quality drops, setting the stage for injury.

Tip: Aim for 7–9 hours of quality sleep per night, stay hydrated, and fuel with nutrient-rich meals. Supplementing protein, complex carbohydrates (whole grains, oats, starchy vegetables, legumes) and electrolytes supports muscle repair, hydration, and performance—especially during heavy training or competition. Make use of your athletic trainer outside of scheduled practice time for maintenance work, taping, and recovery treatments.

Nutrition for Performance: Axis Diet | Illinois Sports Nutrition

If you notice any tweaks, flare-ups, or nagging pain during the season, come see us — we can help you get on top of it before it becomes a bigger issue.

Listen to Early Warning Signs

Pain, swelling, unusual fatigue, or decreased performance can all be early indicators of overtraining or injury. Ignoring them rarely ends well.

Tip: Address small issues promptly with modified training and a proper rehab program!!

Here at Pursuit Physical Therapy, we’ll walk alongside you and cheer you on before something small turns into a game stopper.

Bottom Line: Returning to sport in the fall should be exciting, not stressful. By building on your preseason foundation, keeping your body strong and prepared, and staying proactive with recovery, you can set yourself up for a healthy, high-performing season.

As always, if something is bothering you, come and see us or book a free discovery call!

We’re always willing to chat through whatever you need and want to help our student (and adult) athletes!