Aches and Pains with Amy
No matter what sport you play or what physical activity you do, there are always injuries along the way. Most injuries can be prevented if you take care of your body and stay healthy. Sports scientists suggest that injury rates can be reduced by 25% if athletes took appropriate preventative action.
Here are some tips that I follow that will help with injury prevention.
First, know the rules and proper way to play your sport. The rules and guidelines are designed to keep things safe. I apply this at our cheer practices on a daily basis. If you know what you are doing and the proper way to complete the dance moves you will stay injury free.
Second, always warm up before exercise; warm muscles are less susceptible to injuries. To warm up properly take a minimum of fifteen minutes to stretch your muscles and increase your heart rate.
Third, try to avoid training when your body is weak and tired. When your body is run down from over-exercising and stress, it can be prime time for injuries. When fatigued, your muscles will not handle the demands of your sport and will ultimately give out.
Here are a few more ideas to prevent injuries:
- Increase your consumption of carbohydrates during a period of heavy training
- Increase in your training schedule should be matched with an increase in rest periods
- Treat even seemingly minor injuries very carefully to prevent them from becoming a big problem
- If you experience pain when training, STOP your training session immediately
- Never train hard if you are stiff from the previous effort
- Pay attention to hydration and nutrition
- Use appropriate training surfaces
- Check equipment to make sure it is safe to use
- Introduce new activities gradually
- Allow lots of time for warming up and cooling off
Cheering and playing sports is an important part of our lives, therefore if we follow these guidelines we can stay injury free and play longer.
"You can do more, you can always do more."
Dan Marino
Love and Cheers,
Amy