For all athletes, injuries and the associated setbacks are both par for the course and potentially devastating at the same time. It’s almost impossible for anyone who competes in high level sport to enjoy a totally injury-free career. Injuries are, unfortunately, something that all competitive athletes have to deal with. All we can do is prepare, do our best to avoid them and work hard to recover if and when they inevitably catch up with us

To help you learn how to avoid any potential pratfalls in your recovery from any injuries you may suffer, Sporting Champions Ambassador and athletics legend, Colin Jackson has teamed up with sprinting star, Richard Kilty to advise you on how to best bounce back from any injuries and setbacks that may befall you. This is the second of two episodes covering this topic, with Taekwondo star Lutalo Muhammad joining Colin in the second.

Richard speaks about how, initially, he didn’t really understand the concept of injuries and as a teenager, he felt almost invincible. However, in his late teens, he started to pull hamstrings. He’s also suffered with achilles problems – for which he has had to have surgery – shoulder problems and many other soft tissue injuries that have plagued his career. This is clearly a subject about which he knows plenty.

Richard also talks about the psychological effects of injuries. He says that, in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics, the injury that he suffered and that ruled him out of competing was ‘heart breaking’. It was at this time that he began to fully comprehend just how impactful injuries could be on his career and he says it’s incredibly important that athletes learn from a young age how best to prevent them and how to deal with them if they do rear their ugly heads and the he wishes he had that knowledge and preparation in his career.

Richard and Colin discuss so much around this topic that we won’t go into it all here. Simply watch the video, enjoy and we hope you learn something!