Everyone knows that exercise is essential to having a healthy body that includes your organs and your joints. Whether you are new to exercise or have been doing it for years, it is still important to ensure that you know what you are doing so that you can avoid injuring yourself while exercising.
As we get older the risk of injury during exercise increases, however this can still happen to young children or adults. Taking care of your body while exercising is important for everyone when it comes to injury prevention!
Some of the most common sport related injuries that we see include:
- Strained muscles
- Sprains
- Tendinitis
- ACL tear
- Rotator cuff tears
Here are some of our top tips that may prevent you from injuring yourself while exercising:
- Talk to your doctor before you start exercising – if you have previously injured yourself or know that you are at a higher risk of injuring yourself while exercising because of a certain health condition it is a good idea to consult your doctor before you go ahead with it to prevent injury. Your doctor may give you reassurance that it will be fine for you or they may give you certain modifications to help with injury prevention.
- Choose a workout that works for you – if you suffer from a condition like arthritis then you should avoid exercises that are high impact, such as running or jumping. Try to choose exercises that are low impact such as swimming or cycling. This will still have the same benefits, just without the stress to your joints and therefore help with injury prevention.
- Learn the right technique – if you do an exercise with the wrong form then you may put yourself at a greater risk of causing damage. If you are tyring a new exercise or are unclear on whether you are doing it right, it might be a good idea to ask someone more experienced like a personal trainer, physio or a gym instructor to help you beforehand.
- Ensure that you have the right gear – When exercising it is essential that you wear a supportive pair of trainers. These can help to support your ankle and also absorb some of the shock greatly helping injury prevention
- Start slowly – when trying a new exercise, you should try to slowly ease your way in. This can be a short term or a long-term achievement!
- Always do a warm up – if you go straight into a workout with ‘cold’ muscle then you can be at more risk of injuring your muscles. A warmup can be as little as 15 mins and includes some stretches and a gentle walk. Doing a cool down once you have finished is also important for injury prevention.
- Listen to your body – if a certain exercise is painful then you should move on to another exercise or modify it so that it does not cause pain.
This article is intended to inform and give insight but not treat, diagnose or replace the advice of a doctor. Always seek medical advice with any questions regarding a medical condition.
