We’re so lucky to live in Western Australia, where our summers are spent outside enjoying the sunshine, trying new outdoor activities and generally being active.
But with the sunshine alluring us to get outside and get moving, we also tend to see more patients coming in the doors at Miami Physio with injuries.
Some patients experience injury from over-exerting their bodies, performing an exercise incorrectly or simply skipping warn up and cool down.
Read on to find out some common ways people injure themselves during summer and some key ways to practise injury prevention for yourself.
Improper Exercise Technique
Whether you are a newbie at the gym, you’re trying a new exercise for the first time or you’re trying to exceed what your body is physically capable of, performing an exercise with the improper technique is a quick way to cause injury.
The best way to avoid this is to perform exercises in the presence of a professional – be it a personal trainer or physiotherapist – who can explain how your muscles, ligaments and the body as a whole works in unison to perform an exercise.
Stick to your Limits
When you’re excited about a new activity, it can be difficult to not throw yourself into it as you set yourself goals. Often, this eagerness leads to over-exertion, as the body is not yet conditioned to deal with the excessive exercise & training.
This is where it is important to set goals for your new hobby, exercise plan or sports team, but also be realistic about your body’s current limits.
For example, if your aim is to join the local soccer or football team and you don’t consider yourself currently active, you need to build up your stamina, techniques and your overall fitness before you can expect to be on the field for the whole game or playing as the star forward.
Sticking within your limits will allow your body to change and adapt at a reasonable pace, rather than causing a significant injury early on that hinders any future exercise or sporting achievements.
Keep Hydrated
Being hydrated before, during and after exercise is far more important to injury prevention than you may think!
Keeping hydrated not only prevents you from suffering from heat-related illness during the Australian summer, it also affects the quality of your performance both mentally and physically.
If you become dehydrated, you put yourself at risk of fatigue, impaired concentration, cramps, muscle spasms, and most significantly, injury. Common injuries include muscle strains, tears and fractured bones as a result of working out with cramped, under-performing muscles.
Don’t Skip Your Warm Up or Cool Down
People often underestimate the role that warming up and cooling down plays in injury prevention.
Warming Up
Warming up helps to prepare your muscles and body for the exercise ahead. This can be achieved through performing low-intensity exercises that increase heart rate and body temperature, loosen your joints and improve blood flow to your muscles.
The extra time spent warming up will reduce the likelihood of injury by relieving the stress on your tendons, joints and muscles, while also helping you to prepare mentally, improving your speed and flexibility, and generally preparing you to hit your personal bests.
Cooling Down
After warming up and performing at your best during exercise, your body needs to reverse the process by effectively cooling down. Cooling down not only brings your heart-rate back down after high intensity exercise, it also helps to improve flexibility and muscle performance, reduce muscle soreness and reduce the risk of torn ligaments & injury overall.
Listen to Your Body
The body is an incredible machine that needs to be properly cared for to function at its peak; if you always have your foot on the accelerator, you’ll eventually run out of fuel.
So, learn to listen to your body – take breaks and rest where you need – to make the most of your exercise regime and focus on injury prevention
Invest in Physiotherapy to Prevent Injury at Miami Physio
We’re all for getting outside, keeping in shape and trying new things, but we’re also all for injury prevention! There’s not much worse than committing to a new sport, training regime or way of life, only to become injured and feel your progress going backwards.
At Miami Physio, we use physiotherapy to prevent injury, which is part of our commitment to helping you hit your fitness goals year-round.
Contact Miami Physio on 9534 4111 to learn more about physiotherapy to prevent injury.
