Modern Health - How to notice and prevent injuries
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A nagging tight hamstring that starts out as twinge and tightens up as you keep telling yourself that it will go away. Most of us have had an injury start that way and it’s the ability to take action on that gut feeling. Knowing that something doesn’t feel quite right and addressing it, will often prevent injuries from becoming serious.
Injuries are one of the reasons that people quit exercise programs. Success is critical to sticking with an exercise program so it’s important to understand the difference between an overuse, chronic or repetitive strain injury and a more acute injury.
Overuse, Chronic or Repetitive Strain Injury
Overuse injuries tend to occur from overuse, overtraining or poor biomechanics when performing an exercise. This is generally the injury that starts slow and seems like nothing, but when ignored it can gradually become worse. It’s that ever so slight nagging inner thigh pain that you have been feeling for months and doesn’t go away. In fact it may get worse and lead to low back pain when ignored.
A repetitive injury could be caused by a slow process of pain such as an achilles tendon that bothers you ever so slightly when you run and over months or maybe even years it turns into a serious overuse injury. This completely treatable injury that isn’t treated could put a halt to your running. Injuries caused from repetitive movement such getting foot pain known as plantar fasciitis because you are doing something repetitive such as step aerobics. Another common reason is because of muscle imbalances that gradually occur as you continue to exercise. These types of injuries can also occur because of poor posture and incorrect form when performing an exercise such as leaning too far forward when doing lunges and applying excess strain on the muscles and joints around the knee. These injuries can also be caused from either a muscle not prepared for the level of exercise being done or too much or too much intensity too soon. Joints most commonly impacted by these types of injuries are the ankle, knee, hip, spine, shoulder or elbow.
Care and Prevention of Chronic Injuries
Strategies to prevent these types of injuries include:
Start slow in an exercise program
Ensure an experienced trainer assists in putting together a workout plan
Exercise with good posture
Perform exercises safe and effectively
Use variety in your exercise program to prevent overuse
Acute Injuries
These injuries are related to an accident, are quick to occur, typically don’t lead to injuries that last for lengthy periods of time and more commonly include injuries such as cuts or a muscle strain (injury to a muscle or tendon). These are fibrous tissues that attach muscles to bones.
These strains can be as minor as overstretching a muscle or tendon a more serious injury such as a tear.
Treatment
An acute injury such as a low back strain caused from snow shovelling done improperly needs to be treated within the first 48 to 72 hours. The key is an approach referred to as the RICE method:
Rest – allows injured muscle or tendon tissue to repair without further injury
Ice – cold decreases inflammation and brings swelling down. Use an ice pack or bag of frozen peas on the impacted area for 20 minutes on and 20 minutes off frequently throughout the day
Compression – wrapping the injured area with bandages/elastics to reduce swelling
Elevation – elevate the injured area by keeping it above the heart as gravity will keep fluid away from the injured area
Prevention is the Suggested Route
Nothing is more evident than the importance of prevention in any type of injuries. It’s inevitable that injuries will occur to beginner exercises through to athletes. But we can work to prevent many injuries.
Don’t ignore what your body is telling you – if you have pain, stiffness, weakness pay attention and rest. If that doesn’t work seek medical attention. Always approach a new exercise program in a slow and controlled manner focusing on building a strong base and remembering that “slow and steady wins the race.”
Never do any exercise including sports without properly warming up. This will allow your body temperature to gradually increase and ensure that oxygen is flowing to your muscles and preparing them to exercise.
The third and probably most important is to always use modifications to change the level of exercises to suit the participant and add variety to the routine to prevent nagging overuse injuries. Stay safe by paying attention to your body. If you have experienced chronic pain or acute pain that needs addressing, contact a medical professional.
Today is your day, get moving!
About Kimberly Hicks-Ruttan
I’m the founder of Fit2Move - virtual fitness in your home, on your own time. I am a certified fitness instructor and personal trainer. Connect with me on Facebook where I run a FREE group called Fit Tips with Kimberly.
