It’s almost that time of year: time for back-to-school, after school sports activities and the sports injuries that go along with the fun. Most sports injuries can be avoided, whether the sport of choice is school sports, a friendly game of beach volley ball or a ritual exercise sport like running or walking. Avoid sports injuries with these four steps.
Get A Physical
Before embarking on any new sport, get a physical. A health physical will uncover any underlying health issues that might prevent you from going in the sports direction desired, but it could also save your life. Daily activity, like walking, is one of the best ways to help control health problems like high blood pressure and diabetes, but each patient should get their doctor’s OK first and have their health problem(s) monitored closely during the initial stages of a new sporting activity.
Build Up Slowly
Set you sports or exercise goal, then build up slowly towards that goal to prevent injury. Start out with ten minutes of sports per day during week one, then increase the time by ten percent each week until you reach your goal. Mix up the sports routine to avoid injury also. Work out different body parts by alternating between low impact exercises like swimming, walking and biking.
Train Sport Specific
Every sport or exercise requires repetitive movements and those repetitive movements can sprain, strain or tear muscles and tendons. Whatever sport you chose, strengthen the specific muscles the sport will use beforehand. For example, injuries to the elbow are the number one problem facing golf and tennis enthusiasts, avoid elbow injuries and pain by building up the muscles in the forearms before taking up the game of golf or tennis. Simple exercises like squeezing a tennis ball or doing wrists curls with hand held weights will strengthen the forearm muscles and help prevent elbow injuries. Learning proper technique for the sport of choice by taking lessons will also help prevent sports related injuries.
Begin and End with 10
That’s a 10 minute warm up before sports or exercise and a 10 minute cool down afterwards to help prevent injury. The 10 minute warm up will gradually increase the blood flow to the muscles which will help to prevent muscles injuries. The 10 minutes of cool down gradually decreases the temperature of the muscles and can help to prevent muscle soreness, stiffness and cramps long after the muscle was used. Stretching the muscles which will be used during the sport and walking are great methods to use for warming up and cooling down.
Source
Avoiding Sports Injuries: What Every Coach Should Know accessed July 25, 2011
Helen Stewart - Ms. Stewart resides in Georgia where she is enjoying her career as a freelance writer. She writes for many online publications including ...
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