Pushing the Body Too Far Heed These Guidelines for Safe Exercise

When people start to exercise, they often push their bodies too far. The more exercise they do, the higher the risk of overuse and traumatic injuries.

Moderation is the key to safe exercise. Care should be taken not to try to do too much too soon. Safe exercise programs should always start slowly and gradually build up speed, force, and intensity.

Safe Exercise Guidelines

• Use proper equipment. Replace your athletic shoes as they wear out. Wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothes that let you move freely and are light enough to release body heat. When exercising in cold weather, dress in removable layers.
• Warm up. Warm up to prepare to exercise, even before stretching. Run in place for a few minutes, breathe slowly and deeply, or gently rehearse the motions of the exercise to follow. Warming up increases your heart and blood-flow rates and loosens up other muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints.
• Stretch. Begin stretches slowly and carefully until reaching a point of muscle tension. Hold each stretch for 10 to 20 seconds, then slowly and carefully release it. Inhale before each stretch and exhale as you release. Do each stretch only once. Never stretch to the point of pain, always maintain control, and never bounce on a muscle that is fully stretched.
• Take your time. Move through the full range of motion with each repetition. Breathe regularly to help lower your blood pressure and increase blood supply to the brain.
• Drink water. Drink enough water to prevent dehydration, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. Drink one pint of water 15 minutes before you start exercising and another pint after you cool down. Have a drink of water every 20 minutes or so while you exercise.
• Cool down. Make cooling down the final phase of your exercise routine. It should take twice as long as your warmup. Slow your motions and lessen the intensity of your movements for at least 10 minutes before you stop completely. This phase of a safe exercise program should conclude when your skin is dry and you have cooled down.
• Rest. Schedule regular days off from exercise, and rest when tired. Fatigue, soreness, and pain are good reasons to avoid exercise.

Overuse Injuries

Exercise puts repetitive stress on many parts of the body such as muscles, tendons, bursae, cartilage, bones, and nerves. Repetitive stress can leads to microtraumas — minor injuries that would typically heal with enough rest. When you exercise too frequently, your body never has a chance to repair microtraumas.

As microtraumas build up over time, you become prone to overuse injuries, such as damage to elbow cartilage in athletes who throw, heel bursitis and stress fractures in runners, nerve entrapment in rowers, and kneecap (patellar) tendinitis in volleyball players.

Traumatic Injuries

To build strength and endurance from exercise, you must slowly and gradually push your body beyond its limits. When you push too far too fast, however, the body is prone to traumatic injuries such as sprains and fractures. Many seasonal sports injuries happen when athletes rush their reconditioning and do too much too soon with bones, joints, tendons, ligaments, and muscles they ignored in the off-season.

Risk Factors

In general, injuries during exercise are more likely if:

• The duration, intensity or frequency of an exercise is excessive or rapidly increasing;
• The terrain or weather conditions are extreme or irregular;
• Incorrect pieces of equipment (including athletic shoes) are used;
• You have been injured in the past;
• You smoke, drink, or have led a sedentary lifestyle;
• You have low aerobic or muscle endurance, low or imbalanced strength, or abnormal or imbalanced flexibility; or
• You have high arches in your feet, bowed legs, or legs of different lengths.

First Aid

Accidents can happen despite safe exercise precautions. If you pull a muscle (or worse) during exercise, apply a protective device such as a sling, splint, or brace. Then use the first-aid standard for musculoskeletal injures: rest, ice, compression, and elevation (RICE):

• Rest the injury;
• Ice it to lessen swelling, bleeding, and inflammation;
• Apply a compression bandage to limit swelling; and
• Elevate the injury above heart level to reduce swelling.

You may use non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen for pain. See your doctor if you have severe pain or cannot move the injured body part, or if symptoms persist. v

This article was prepared by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.