Long gone are the days of “no pain/no gain.” The idea of exercising is to enhance your health and your mobility not to cause discomfort and reduce your abilities. During exercising you might feel some “good,” “I’m working out” sensations
Long gone are the days of “no pain/no gain.” The idea of exercising is to enhance your health and your mobility not to cause discomfort and reduce your abilities.
During exercising you might feel some “good,” “I’m working out” sensations and that is perfect. Even afterwards to feel a slight pleasant feeling of muscle tiredness and of having been stretched out is great.
What is not good is any lasting muscle soreness or any acute (sudden) sharp, stabbing, intense pain. That signals that something is wrong and that you should stop exercising immediately.
Some of the most common athletic injuries that people suffer are strains and sprains.
The difference between the two is that a sprain occurs in the ligaments; that is the connective tissue joining bones together. So think of a sprained ankle. It is not the muscle that is pulled, it is at a joint, and it is the connective tissue between the joint that has ripped. The injured joint usually swells and is tender.
A sprain, on the other hand, is not located at the joint because it occurs usually in the tendon or the muscle itself.
The tendon is the part of the muscle that attaches the muscle to the bone. Think chicken leg … if you have ever eaten a drumstick and noticed the long stretchy kind of gluey part at the end of the muscle when you tear into it, that’s the tendon.
Most common areas for strains are the hamstring and the groin muscles simply because they are typically tight and many people do not stretch their muscles out properly after a workout.
The only time you should really give your muscle a good thorough stretching out is at the end of a good workout, when your muscles are warm and pliable.
At the beginning of your workout, range of motion exercises and balance work should be used to prepare your muscles for work.
The length of the warm-up and cool down varies a little depending on your age and condition but generally about 5 minutes warming up (longer if your are older, deconditioned or have arthritis) and about 3 to 5 minutes cool-down.
Back in the “glory days” I never used to spend a lot of time warming up or cooling down and although lucky for me my body seems to be made of sprung steel, and I never got hurt, however, the enhancement of adding a huge amount of flexibility training with a proper warm up and cool down has increased my overall fitness level incredibly.
Body builders more than any other strength trained athlete understand the importance of the warm up, the stretch component, and the cool down.
Personally when I was a power lifter I spend little time on these healthy parameters but when I switched to bodybuilding and then into yoga and Pilates, it has become a focus of my workout.
Bodybuilders know that in order for a muscle to grow and in order for you to be back in the gym the next day the warm up, the stretch component and the cool down are imperative.
If a sprain or a strain happens to you the old RICE treatment is still the best approach. RICE stands for Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. Most of these interventions are to keep the swelling under control.
Rest means don’t put any weight on the injured joint or muscle for at least 24 to 48 hours. You can tape the injured body part to another making an anatomical splint or you can splint and sling the body part if needed. Ice should be applied at least three times a day for the first 72 hours.
The ice should only stay on for about 10 minutes a time. This helps reduce swelling and also because it lessens sensation, ice reduces pain. Put a damp cloth between your skin and the ice so you won’t freeze your tissue.
Compression also is to reduce swelling which causes further injury to the tissue. You want to wrap the injured area snuggly but not too snug.
You want to make sure that areas further away from the injury are still receiving adequate blood supply.
By elevating the injured area and keeping it at or above your heart level you will again help reduce further injury from swelling.
As soon as the swelling and pain has subsided you will want to get back training.
If pain resumes, it is a sign that you are not ready to get back into the gym. Gentle range of motion and gentle stretching is the way to resume exercise. Once that can be accomplished without pain, then re- training the area to increase strength is the next step.
Exercise sensibly. The whole idea is not to slam weights around, or load up on the weight but to produce positive changes in your body.
Avoiding injuries means that you can be in the gym having fun and building your health and your body rather than sitting on the sidelines waiting to recover.
Yours in health, Jane.
