Whether you’re a weekend warrior, a college athlete, or an elite, you want to know what strategies you can employ, so you can stay on top of your game.
Below are some simple tips for what you should and shouldn’t do on and off the field to lower your risk for injuries and ultimately reach your full athletic potential.
What to Do to Lower Your Risk for Sports Injuries
- Establish a fitness routine that combines cardiovascular exercises with strength and flexibility training. This helps build or improve muscular endurance and strength—enabling your muscle groups to withstand repeated contractions over an extended period of time.
- Observe proper biomechanics and technique. Employing proper technique helps you perform well and more likely to avoid injuries. For instance, improving your throwing technique can help you lower your risk for overuse injuries.
- Warm up. This revs up your cardiovascular system and boosts blood flow to your muscles, making them less likely to tear, twist, or rip.
- Cool down. This helps prevent the buildup of lactic acid in your muscles, and consequently, fatigue and soreness.
- Stay hydrated. Dehydration can also cause muscle fatigue and increase your risk for injuries.
- Wear protective gear. Wearing knee guards, for instance, helps reduce your odds of sustaining a strain, sprain, or fracture when landing hard on the ground.
What You Should and Shouldn’t Do in the Event of an Injury
- Listen to your body. When something feels off, stop. Pain is a signal your body is trying to put across that you’ve put too much strain on it.
- Do seek proper medical intervention. This is crucial for preventing potentially serious or long-term complications.
Your doctor will likely recommend sports therapy, which incorporates a combination of exercises and therapeutic modalities all geared toward helping you safely and quickly get back in the game.
- Mind the intensity and the type of pain you’re experiencing. This is important, as it not only helps you have a general sense of how serious your injury is, but also enables you to relay your symptoms to your doctor more effectively. Use the numeric pain scale (0 to 10) and proper adjectives when describing your pain. Know the nuances between “dull,” “sharp,” “tingling,” and “stabbing.”
It also helps to pay attention to the accompanying symptoms (e.g., swelling, sensitivity to touch, obvious deformity, etc.). Your doctor can use the information you provide about your symptoms to help confirm a diagnosis.
Sports Therapy in Dallas Texas
At Reagan Integrated Sports Medicine, we offer a vast variety of innovative and effective treatment options –including sports therapy— for the broad range of sports injuries.
What’s more, as proponents of preventative care, our highly qualified sports medicine doctors take satisfaction in sharing useful information to help athletes and anyone desiring to maintain an active lifestyle reduce their risk for injuries and maximize their potential.
Schedule an appointment with one of our sports medicine experts today. Contact our staff at (972) 503-7272 to arrange your appointment. You may also fill out this form, and we will get back to promptly to confirm your visit.
