Arguably spring is the time when there are more sports injuries than any other time of year.  The reason is plain and simple: with spring comes the launching in to new activities from the most dormant time of yea…winter.  Now because most people are inactive during the winter, they tend to start exercising far more than they should as well as far faster than they should, thus causing injuries. 

It’s with that thought, that I decided to do a brief article on a handful of ways to avoid receiving over use injuries.  Which is truly what it is that you get when you start to become active in an instant without ramping-up and warming up first. 

Springs, Sports Injuries And Spring

How To Avoid An Overuse Injury

While a sprain isn’t necessarily an over use injury it is a good place to start explaining how you can avoid or minimize having an overuse injury.

First thing that you can do is to alternate between muscle groups.  Lifting weights is a good way to explain this.  You have two basic ‘muscle’ groups in your body: upper and lower.  When you lift weights,  you will want to alternate between these two groups.  One day do leg presses, leg curls and so forth.  The next day, you’re going to want to do upper body.  Pull downs, bench presses and the like.  When you do this, you will give those muscle groups you’re not working a day off.  That will give them time to rest and regroup.  You also aren’t going to want to start off with too heavy of weights. 

Next consider transitioning this concept to running and improving your cardiovascular system.  Run a long distance one day, the next a short distance.  This has the same impact on your system as does alternating for muscular strength. 

Stretching!  Stretching is one of those things where you get arguments on both sides.  You see, some argue that you need to stretch before you exercise, others say you need to stretch after you exercise.  Either way, it’s important to stretch, but not to hard so that you wont rip and tear your muscles.

A gentle warm-up.  Again like stretching, there’s argument as to what type of warm up.  But most seem to agree that a gentle warm-up in the area and muscle group that you’re going to use is the best way to warm-up those muscle groups.  And avoid those sprains that you see here.  

You Did It…You’re Injured!

Okay, so you did it and now your injured, what do you do now.  Well the answers pretty simple, seek medical attention.  Depending on how sever, will depend on your options.  If you haven’t got a break or open fracture, concussion or something ‘major’, then consider going to an urgent care.  They are more than equipped to handle minor injuries, and you’ll be seen faster and have service that’s just as good as the emergency room, as well as if you went to the emergency room.

Having said that, if you have a major injury go to the emergency room ASAP, and if necessary get a ride via ambulance.  Then you’re sure to get in quickly and get the attention that you need.  But remember, you’ll also get the bill that goes with it.