Avoid Sports Injuries
According to Dr. Frank S. Chen of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, a group of sports doctors who specialize in fitness training and sports medicine in the Bay Area, while not all sports injuries can be avoided by athletes while exercising, taking proper precautions will help prevent most of these sports injuries. Aside from sudden twists and sprains, sports injuries can occur over time when microtears can become worse and worse over time. With proper procedures that are done each and every time an athlete exercises or trains, sports injuries are likely to never occur, or damage will be minimized.
1. Proper use of conditioning recommended by doctors:
Conditioning such as aerobic conditioning involves increasing your heart rate for an elongated amount of time, such as on a treadmill or exercise bike. Almost all doctors agree that it is very important that you use conditioning if you are an athlete involved with such sports as football and cycling. Dr. Frank Chen says that “playing yourself” into shape (performing on the field without strengthening specific muscles in your body) will almost always lead to injury.
The initial conditioning should be something that is light, such as running in place or jumping rope. According to many doctors, doing light conditioning first will help prevent sports injuries later when you perform stretches and exercises. After the initial warm up, doctors recommend light stretching that can be used before getting into heavier stretching. Make sure that your muscles are warmed up properly before increasing physical exertion. Doctors urge that if you are, for example, cycling or running, you may want to start out at a very slow pace before graduating moving faster and faster.
2. Doctors recommend stretching before exercise:
As stated above, the best way to avoid sports injuries is to stretch effectively. After your muscles have been warmed up as described above, it is important to stretch. According to doctors, stretching should involve the targeting of certain muscles, and then slowly stretch them until you feel some tension (not pain) and then slowly release back into a normal position. Stretching before and after exercise while your muscles are still warmed up will help microtears in tissue to heal faster and effectively and it will help avoid sports injuries in the future.
3. Avoiding over-training and training errors prevents sports injuries:
Doctors maintain that while soreness after working out his quite common, if soreness continues for athletes that train many days consecutively, then you are probably over-working yourself. Doctors believe that you do not have to over-train to make progression in your exercise.
Recovery is also important for muscles after an intense workout. Doctors agree that twenty-four to forty-eight hours is needed for muscles to recover to their full capacity again. Make sure that you schedule a steady balance of training and rest. You do not need to increase intensity every time you workout; this could effectively prevent sports injuries in the future.