Injury Prevention

INJURY PREVENTION

It is important to understand that the risk of injury is a real consideration in any training or fitness program. However, by choosing activities wisely, utilizing proper form, and participating in adequate warm-up, stretching, and cool-down sessions injuries may be kept at a minimum.

One of the major causes of injury is a carelessly-designed or poorly-planned exercise program. Any successful fitness plan should be tailored to you, the individual. After assessing your present condition and personal goals, Fitness Facts matches these factors to activity levels that are safely within your capabilities and that will allow you to reach your personal fitness goals.

Incorporating gradual progressions into your personalized program allows you to consistently improve your fitness level without increasing the risk of injury. In fact, by designing a balanced program that involves all aspects of fitness, Fitness Facts helps you to further minimize any chances of injury. As previously mentioned, a lack of muscle strength or flexibility, or an imbalance of either, predisposes you to injury. In addition, poor cardiorespiratory fitness can also increase the potential for injury.

Another factor which contributes to injuries involves inadequate or poorly-maintained equipment or facilities. It is important that the equipment used in your activity choices is properly maintained and fully functional.

In addition, wearing suitable clothing and footwear can greatly reduce the risk of injury. For more information on these considerations, please refer to the Equipment and Environmental Considerations sections in this guide.

Environmental conditions have a profound effect on your ability to exercise. People who are unaware of this fact sometimes put themselves at increased risk for injury. Always be aware of environmental conditions like extreme cold or heat when you are preparing to exercise or participate in a specific activity. For more information on this subject, please refer to the section dealing with Environmental Considerations.

As stated before, correct warm-up, stretching, and cool-down sessions are essential to reduce the likelihood of injury. For more information concerning warm-up, stretching, and cool-down sessions, refer to the exercise physiology discussion in the Principles of Fitness section.

Injuries also occur as a result of overuse. "Too much, too soon" can only lead to a negative outcome. Fitness Facts cannot stress enough that "more is not always better!"

Perhaps most important of all, an examination by your personal physician is an excellent method of minimizing injury risk. Medical clearance from a physician prior to beginning any exercise program is recommended for everyone, especially the following groups:

Men over age 40

Women over age 50

People with cardiovascular, pulmonary, metabolic or orthopedic disorders (regardless of age)

People with high blood pressure, abnormal blood

lipids, or a history of tobacco use (regardless of age)

Sedentary people (regardless of age)

People who have been inactive for more than 6 months

People who have not seen a doctor within the past 5 years (regardless of age)

People concerned about their health status

People who are considerably overweight, or obese (regardless of age)

Warning Signs

You need to be aware of certain signs that can alert you to injury or disease. If you should ever experience any of the following signs, stop exercising immediately and see a physician before resuming any physical activity:

Pressure or pain in the chest, arms, or throat while exercising or directly following activity

Light-headedness, dizziness, sudden lack of coordination or control of your limbs

Cold sweating or signs of pallor

Abnormal heart beat such as fluttering, skipping, palpitations, sudden increases or sudden decreases of pulse rate

Furthermore, if any of the signs described below should occur, decrease the intensity and volume of your activity, and seek medical attention if such conditions persist:

Pronounced feelings of breathlessness that last over 10 minutes after stopping activity

Pronounced elevation of pulse rate that lasts from five to ten minutes following activity

Prolonged feelings of exhaustion or fatigue lasting up to 24 hours after activity session

Nausea or vomiting during or directly following exercise

It is also important to be able to recognize signs and symptoms of injury. Muscle soreness, which can be an ordinary effect of exercise, usually occurs 24-48 hours after the activity session and will usually disappear with time and further activity. If soreness is unusually pronounced and persists for longer periods of time, it may be a symptom of an injury.

Signs of injury can include the following:

Sensations of pain that are present even when the body is at rest

Pain sensations within the joint itself

Swelling or discoloration

Extreme tenderness to the touch

Pain that persists even following an extensive warm-up session

Changes in normal bodily functions

Increased sensation of pain during movement or weight-bearing activity

In addition, certain signs may be readily apparent when an injury first occurs. These include, but are not limited to, the following:

Sensations of pain, tingling, stiffness, or numbness

Audible click, snap or pop at the moment you first become aware of the injury

Variation in the normal size, position, shape or color of the affected body part

Inflammation manifested by redness, swelling, pain, impaired function, and elevated skin temperature at the injured area

Common injury types that exercisers are exposed to include:

Sprain: stretched or torn ligamentous tissue

Strain: over-stretched or torn muscle tissue or tendon

Abrasion: scraped skin

Contusion: bruised skin from forceful impact

Fracture: separation of bone part

Other types of orthopedic injuries can manifest themselves in the following ways:

Capsulitis: inflamed joint

Tendinitis: inflamed tendons

Tenosynovitis: inflamed tendon sheaths

Bursitis: inflammation of the bursa, or the fluid sacs located between the bone and muscle that helps maintain normal motion

If you notice constant inflammation of the tissues surrounding a certain body area, you may be suffering from one of these problems. Seek medical counsel to determine what type of problem you are experiencing and receive the most appropriate treatment.

The RICE Method

All injuries should be evaluated by qualified medical personnel. Yet a doctor may not be available when the injury first occurs. For immediate care of an injury, you may refer to the RICE method, where RICE stands for the four stepsrest, ice, compression and elevation.

Rest: Unfortunately, this is often ignored. For a damaged tissue to heal and strengthen, it must be rested. By continuing to use the damaged area, you only subject it to further stress, which can lead to a permanent, debilitating injury.

Ice: Ice will help reduce inflammation of the injured tissues as well as the amount of swelling. Ice acts as a vasoconstrictor on the blood vessels, thus helping to control tissue bleeding. In addition, it helps numb the pain associated with injury.

Compression: The increased fluid pressure helps reduce swelling. You can use a towel or elastic wrap on the affected area.

Elevation: Keep the injured area above the level of the heart, allowing gravity forces to help move fluid away from the area. A pillow or rolled towel is often used.

Easing Back into Your Exercise Program

Whether returning from an injury, illness, or even vacation, be prepared to begin your exercise regimen at a lower intensity level and decreased volume of activity than what you were doing prior to your layoff.

As explained in the "Principles of Exercise" chapter of this guide, de-training can take place very quickly with the cessation of exercise. In addition, due to the nature of the injury or illness, your body may be physically weaker than it had been.

It is always safer to resume exercise at a very easy level when returning from injury and layoff. While this activity level may have been easy for you before, it may now be more difficult. It is better to be conservative and resume your program at a level that you have surpassed long ago.

In this manner, you will probably find that your body will quickly adapt to exercise again. On a positive note, it will not take nearly as long to return to your previous fitness level as it did to achieve it initially. Providing your body with the time to re-adjust itself to physical activity, will enable you to avoid over-stressing your system with too much, too soon.

Fever and Sickness

For some reason, many fitness enthusiasts are under the impression that exercising with a fever or when you are sick is not dangerous. In fact, many actually believe the exercise will be beneficial, helping them to "sweat it out."

When fever develops, exercise should be put off until your body returns to normal. This is true for any fitness level, from the weekend softball player to the competitive triathlete. Exercising with a fever will not only hamper your performance, but may exacerbate your weakened condition.

When you train with a fever, you are placing excessive strain on your heart and its attempts to keep your body from overheating. By exercising in this condition, your heart may become overloaded with the task of pumping blood to the muscles while also attempting to prevent your body's fevered temperature from escalating further.

In addition, fever is often accompanied by dehydration. Exercise will further dehydrate your system. Moreover, if you are taking aspirin for fever or cold, the amount of sweat your body produces is increased. This in turn can dehydrate you even further, causing serious danger. The overall combined effect may lead to heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Such a condition could result in nausea, fatigue, dizziness, blurred vision, blindness and even death. For more information on heat illness and heat stroke, refer to the "Environmental Considerations" chapter of this guide.

The next time someone tells you to go to the gym to sweat your fever out, inform the person that the only exercise you will be doing is climbing into bed to rest and get well again. You will be safer, and better off, in the long run.

Overuse

The concept of overuse is related to that of overtraining. When you subject a specific body area to the stress of repeated activity, you must also allow the supporting muscles and connective tissues adequate time to rest and recuperate between exercise sessions.

If you do not provide the tissues with enough time to recuperate and continue to repeatedly subject them to the stresses of activity, those structures will grow weaker, not stronger. In time, they will not be able to support the amount of activity they are exposed to and injury may occur.

Should you experience such injuries, take the necessary steps to control the damage and begin the healing process. Such procedures include the RICE method and medical attention, as discussed earlier.

After an injury, take a look at its causes to see if something may be done to prevent a similar injury from ocurring in the future. Was it due to a freak accident or could it be attributed to overuse? Take the time to not only strengthen the affected body part but also to adjust your fitness regimen accordingly.

By following the specifics of your personalized Fitness Facts program and providing your body with adequate rest along with sufficient energy stores from a balanced eating plan, you should be able to avoid overuse injuries.

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