Whenever Adam felt a tweak of pain in his left knee, he would check his running shoes. And sure enough, they were nearly always showing signs of excess wear. Sometimes, he didn’t check soon enough, and his workouts were shelved for a few weeks as he recovered from an injury.
Regular exercise is good for you–in fact, crucial for good long-term health. Yet those who embrace exercise enthusiastically often find themselves battling injuries–mostly minor–that put them on the sideline for a few weeks at a time.
For Adam, wornout shoes are a plague. He has warm memories of an old pair of “Marathon Trainers” from the 1980s that gave him more than 1,200 miles, but he should know better than to expect shoes on the market today–no matter how much they cost–to give him more than 200 or 300 road miles.
A trouble spot for Deb is the period right after the holidays or a vacation. Knowing that she has missed several days at the health club, she tries to make up for it...and ends up with pain in her heel that sends her to the sidelines and gives her even more work to make up.
There are many reasons for workout injuries but only a few ways to prevent them.
KNOW THYSELF! Adam and Deb would agree: the best way to prevent injuries is to know yourself–your habits, strengths, limitations, weaknesses, foibles and symptoms of overwork.
One major advantage of regular exercise is that it teaches you to monitor your body. If you are used to a certain activity such as running or biking, you probably know without looking how fast you’re going, how far you’ve gone, how hard your body is working and how fast your heart is beating.
Your body will also tell you pretty quickly if you start to go too fast or too far for your current level of conditioning. If you’re honest with yourself, you probably remember the little twinges of pain you felt in your shin for several weeks before you developed shin splints.
For a recreational athlete, nearly all injuries involve overuse syndrome. And they can be avoided if you learn to recognize the signs early and cut back before a potential problem becomes a real one.
BUILD GRADUALLY: Getting fitter and stronger is a matter of progression, of course. If you’re lifting 50 pounds readily on a weight machine, you’ll eventually find it pretty easy to do two or three sets at that level. That’s when it’s time to add another 5 pounds and lift that until it becomes easy again. That’s how you get stronger.
Don’t push yourself too fast, though. Trying to lift too much too soon will lead you to shift the work to nearby muscles that may not be ready for the effort. And you’ll end up back at square one with an injury. Shoulders are particularly vulnerable to this kind of injury.
As Deb learned, an extended time away from the gym means it’s time for stepping back in duration and intensity rather than leaping forward. Move back to an earlier, lower level and use that as your base for moving forward.
An injury–even a minor one–is an even bigger setback. Pick up your training again at no more 50 percent of what you were doing before the injury and build gradually from there.
USE PROPER FORM: Weight trainers warn athletes to lift only as many repetitions as they can do with proper form. If you feel fatigue at rep #12, you will probably lose form by rep #15.
Adam ran with a heavy heel strike on the outside of his foot. When his shoes became worn, they failed to give him adequate shock absorption, and they tended to exaggerate his bow legged stride, leading to knee problems. He was no longer running with proper form.
Even new shoes can cause injuries if they are not well chosen to accommodate any biomechanical problems you have.
KNOW YOUR WEAKNESSES: Sometimes people gravitate toward activities, such as running or biking, that suit their anatomy as well as their interests... but not always.
If you tend to have knee problems, choose activities that stress them the least–like riding an exercise bike or using an elliptical trainer. A stair stepper can be particularly hard on either the knees or the balls of the feet. Running or jogging will not cause knee problems but may make them worse if they already exist.
Deep knee bends or squats–to an angle greater than 90 degrees–are particularly hard on knees. Forward and side lunges, on the other hand, are good for building quadriceps strength, which in turn can benefit the knees.
Women should realize that they are more vulnerable to injury during their menstrual periods when hormones tend to increase the looseness of joints.
GET REST, CROSS TRAIN: Rest is a crucial element of building fitness. If you’re lifting weights, don’t work the same muscles two days in a row. For aerobic work, trainers recommend a similar hard/easy approach. Never do two consecutive hard workouts without an easy one or a rest day in between. And you should always schedule at least one, preferably two, rest days a week.
Cross training is a variation on that theme. Alternating activities such as running or walking with biking or swimming allows you to rest some muscles while still getting an aerobic workout.
KNOW SIGNS OF DEHYDRATION: If you’re losing weight faster than you expect, you’re likely to be elated. Beware: this could be a sign that you are chronically dehydrated. You don’t burn three pounds of calories in one exercise session; if you lose that much weight, it is water that should be replenished right away.
One early sign of dehydration is a twitching eyelid. A more ominous sign is muscle cramping during a workout. If you feel cramps, slow down, stop and replenish your fluids.
STRETCH, WARM UP, COOL DOWN: The value of stretching to avoid injury is controversial, but maintaining flexibility is a crucial part of fitness.
Warming up gradually for 5 to 10 minutes helps get blood flowing to muscles and makes them less vulnerable to stress. Cooling down for the last 5 minutes, bringing the heart rate slowly back to normal, is even more important. At the very least, it helps prevent muscle soreness and stiffness the following day.
Individuals who do well at exercise tend to develop a routine or ritual that brings them back and gives them satisfaction day after day. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned veteran, make sure your routine is built around not only increased fitness but protection from injury.
REFERENCES:
Astrid Bidanec, “How to prevent injuries during exercise,” Active.com.
Colette Bouchez, “6 ways to avoid workout injuries,” WebMD Feature reviewed by Louise Chang, M.D., May 19, 2008.
“Exercise safety fact sheet,” Better Health Channel, Physical Activity Australia.
“4 steps to treat common exercise injuries, from Harvard Men’s Health Watch,” News from Harvard Health, February, 2010.
Kristin Gustafson, “8 tips to avoid injuries while exercising,” Active.com.
“Workout injuries: prevention and treatment,” WebMD Medical Feature, reviewed by Michael W. Smith, M.D., April 17, 2012.
04/25/2014
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