Don’t let your sport ruin your health
October 1st, 2016
I am a big fan of regular exercise. It leads to better cardiovascular health, helps you lose weight, reduces stress, and many many other benefits. As with most things, however, you can overdo it or exercise improperly which can actually lead to health problems.
Here are some pointers to getting the most out of your workouts without getting injured.
- Pick a safe sport or form of exercise. I generally advise against full contact sports such as football or rugby. We are finding that repetitive concussions from head trauma (which is inevitable in those sports) can lead to early dementia and conditions such as depression. In fact, there have been many pro-football players who have committed suicide as a result of brain injuries. There are MANY sports to choose from that are safer and can be just as fun. All it takes is one severe injury and your life can be changed forever.
- Learn how to exercise by getting a trainer in that sport. Think back when you learned to drive a car or ride a bicycle. You most certainly needed someone to teach you these skills. Every sport has it’s own techniques and equipment that you need to be familiar with to prevent injury. You must learn these before you get started or you can be seriously injured. Running even requires that you find the right shoe that fits with your style of running and your foot structure.
- Pain is your body’s way of telling you something is wrong. At the gym, I hear some personal trainers telling their clients to “work through the pain.” This is often the worst advice. You should not be in severe pain while exercising. If this occurs, stop immediately. If the pain gets worse, you may need to see a medical professional.
- Wear the appropriate protective gear. Most injuries occur when people don’t wear goggles, helmets or pads. I can’t tell you how many cyclists I see who fell off their bikes and got concussions all because they were not wearing helmets. Think of your head and brain as having the consistency of a watermelon. If you fall from a height of 6 foot on a bicycle while speeding down a road, that is going to cause a significant amount of force on your head.
- Cross train. Running everyday on pavement can be difficult for your knees. In general, we should try to mix it up when it comes to exercise because you want to use different muscle groups and wear them out evenly. In my practice, I see dedicated runners with many injuries, but I almost never see tri-athletes (who run, swim and cycle). I have adapted this to my own routine by following a schedule of running one day, cycling another, and elliptical on the third day, and rowing on the fourth day. I feel this gives a full body workout with adequate rest for each set of muscle groups and joints in between exercises.
- Don’t be a weekend warrior. I recommend regular exercise and avoiding “bursts” of intense exercise. When you begin exercising, gradually increase the intensity and let your body adapt and grow stronger.
