With the changes of my mothers health coming on so rapidly and harshly- I decided I would try to figure out "sports related or work out related injuries" and how to prevent them. Now I know to cover them all at one time- well that is not going to be easy- but I also know that learning and educating myself daily towards a newer healthier me is also part of my "mental training"...If you think its all physical-WRONG and if you thing it is all related to energy-WRONG and if you think it is all about what you eat day in and out -WRONG! I mean lets get real if we have to think about it- then it is not easy... I love my new life but I want to continue my healthy lifestyle and changes and work towards doing even better in the future and teaching my kids how to do better too.
So Part of that is not just EXERCISING- but knowing what are the most common injuries people create for themselves... I mean what can we do to make sure we are getting the benefits of the "high intensity Cardio" with out the long lasting effects of an injury?
--According to many sites the main INJURIES occur because people are not doing what we are taught how to do even in elementary school gym classes ( Oh I forgot! many schools find that kind of thing unnecessary any more!)
Lest first talk about the MOST DANGEROUS places to get an injury-- GYM OR FITNESS CENTER, SCHOOL, UNKNOWN AND HOME are your choices... and you guess it HOME is where most work out injuries happen!
Now what parts of the body do you think are injured the most? First, the wrists are the most injured part of the body- because of pinching nerves while doing push ups, pull ups, lifting weights and even boxing with a bent wrist. Second is your HEAD! OK why are we harming ourselves in our heads while working out? I can only think of either falling on your head while doing yoga poses or even dropping weights on your head- THAT WOULD HURT!!! The third most injured part is your ankle and foot. Then your Elbow then your upper legs.
First I am going to look at fitness issues with the daily sit down job- not just talking over weight here- talking about any one that sits at a desk all day looking at a computer. *--According to Justin Price, MA at San Diego and owns BIOMECHANICS ( a healthy work out facility)--He mentions that because of looking at computers all day long we tend to hunch our shoulders and lean forward. This can cause problems with the balance in our feet and ankles and that by our posture being off- actually he goes on to say the "entire skeletal system can be off balance because of this". I guess that is why we do all those core strengthening exercises. He blames our poor postures for the wanting to "lean forward" and put more weight towards the front of your bodies. And recommends to combat this problem to wear good tennis shoes with lower heels and with walking supports to help you stand straighter. He also blames those desk jobs for the pain in the knees.. his explanation is we sit all day and wear dress shoes when we are up walking around then we decide to go to kick boxing or some other type of exercise class, with our feet being off balance it is only natural that the pressure has to go some where- and naturally it will attack the knee. Our hips knees and legs and ankles and feet are all connected and if one has a small pain or issue- realize it early on so it can be treated properly- also I personally recommend that you get your back checked out too. I am learning a lot of things about our spine and the way that one area of our body connects and allows more damage than what we would think it could.
The Next area he talks about is YOUR LOWER BACK! Guess what he attributes that to? YEP your desk JOB! When you sit rounded in the upper back all day- your upper back does not have the strength to lift and support the weight or job you are giving it to do. Naturally just as in your legs the pain will become stronger in your lower back where you are trying to support all the weight or pressure since your upper back cant.
Carpal Tunnel-- OK what causes this? Actually this is brought up because it causes shoulder pain. Again, sitting in poor posture all day and not keeping your wrists from pinching nerves or closing off those veins causing tingling sensation or even sharp shooting pains all the way up your arms. THEN go try and work out as you do lifts of weights and other arm exercises, you will notice again your shoulder will take the brunt of the beating from that... ( and although personally I deal with this I am just putting pieces together! )
Next place is your NECK! your neck? yes your NECK! if your spine is out of alignment and so is your hip and shoulder, um...yest its starting to come together. You cannot see the screen so you straighten your back and pull your stomach in to keep from hunching what is the next thing you do? PERSONALLY the "turtle neck strain" you know you sit there pull your shoulders back and move your neck up actually try it- YOU WILL FEEL THE STRAIN IN THE BACK- AND THEN - DON'T DO THAT! Its bad for your neck! DUH!
All in all I see the trend here- if you are not taking care of our bodies (when we are not exercising) we will not be able to protect our bodies from injury. They are not going to drop 50 pounds in one day- it will take time to build proper muscles, change postures and work on your bodies core muscles and REMIND yourself...
I will be following up with other injuries and ways to prevent them. --I hope you enjoy this short series!
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