Due to our busy lifestyles, we often become weekend warriors. We neglect our fitness and exercise during the week and try to make up for it on the weekends. But, this leaves us open for injuries. It is much better to adapt a daily exercise routine. When we are unable to do this, we need to take precautions to avoid these injuries.
What can be done to avoid these injuries?
-Make sure to stretch out well prior to the activity. Many of the injuries we see are sprain or strain type injuries in people whose muscles are not used to exercising on a regular basis. Tight muscles are easier to pull or strain.
-Don’t overdo it. If something starts to hurt, stop and don’t push it. What may be just an aching muscle from disuse can easily turn into a pulled or strained muscle. This will take a longer time to recover.
-Use protective equipment. Even if you are just playing for fun, you still need to take the usual precautions. If you are riding a bike, wear your helmet. If you are playing soccer, wear your shin guards. Just because you are playing for enjoyment and not taking things too seriously doesn’t mean that you can’t suffer a serious injury.
-Stay well-hydrated. Drink water before, during and after working out.Avoid caffeinated beverages.
-Cool down when you are done. Don’t just stop. Gently stretch those muscles and gradually decrease your activity.
If you are unfortunate to suffer an injury, don’t neglect it. You can make it worse by not taking immediate action. If you have swelling, apply ice and keep the affected part elevated. Tylenol or ibuprofen can reduce some of the pain. If the pain is severe, call your doctor as you may need to get x-rays. And don’t push yourself through an injury. It is your body’s way of telling you to stop.
While we see many injuries from weekend warrior activities, they can often be avoided if precautions are taken. The best prevention is to not only be active on weekends. Recent research studies have shown that short bursts of high intensity activity through-out the day may actually be better than prolonged physical exercise. And some studies even suggest that it is not so damaging to the muscles. So, if you don’t have 30-60 minutes a day to devote to an exercise routine, you can do it in short bursts of 5 minutes at a time throughout the day. Most everyone can find 5 minute increments to utilize each day if they really wanted to.
The most important thing, however, is to adapt any kind of exercise. The American sedentary lifestyle is wrecking havoc on the health of many. We are seeing rising incidence of obesity, diabetes mellitus, hypertension and other diseases. Exercise is an important tool to help stave off these diseases. Hopefully, we will all find the time needed to bring more activity into our lives in a smart safe way.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2014 Linda Girgis, MD, FAAFP
