8 Ways to Protect Your Body From Injury
Protect your body. Use our eight tips below to help you make your body less susceptible to injury.
Warm Up
Before you begin any exercise, make sure that you properly warm up your body to prevent injury. According to this blog, your warm up should last about ten minutes, and should be a low impact exercise such as walking or cycling.
Your muscles are like rubber bands, and need to be warmed up to prevent them from snapping. Before you begin any exercise — or even something that you wouldn’t consider exercise like carrying heavy boxes or doing yard work — make sure that you do a proper warm up to prevent injury.
Use the Right Gear – Including Shoes
Whatever sport or activity you are participating in, wearing or using the right equipment can decrease your chance of injury. Protective equipment includes (but is not limited to): mouthguards, helmets, headgear, braces, taping, eye protection, padding, footwear, etc. Even if you are just playing a pickup game with your buddies, it is important to protect yourself.
Using the correct gear for the activity can protect you from getting concussions, broken bones, sprains, strains, etc. This is true not only in sports, but in everyday life as well. Wear the right protective gear, such as protective gloves and eyewear when you are working on home improvement projects, taking on dangerous tasks at work, etc.
Build Your Strength
Most people get injured because they push themselves too hard too fast. Start slow with your exercises, and don’t do more than your body can handle. Slowly build your strength over time instead of jumping into something too fast.
Use lighter weights and less repetitions until you are ready to move on to the next level. Luckily, there are many online workouts that will slowly build your endurance if you don’t know how to effectively plan one yourself.
Stay Hydrated
Water plays a necessary role in almost all of our body’s functions. It transports essential vitamins across cells through the body, helps you regulate temperature, and more. Whether or not you are exercising, you should make sure that you get plenty of fluids a day.
You should get ½ oz to 1 oz of fluids (not including alcohol and soda) for every pound that you weigh. Drinking enough water will help keep your joints lubricated, remove toxins, and prevent many diseases. Water also helps your muscles function – as muscles are 75% water.
If you become dehydrated, you are more likely to experience muscle fatigue and a lack of coordination. Make sure that you are getting enough water, no matter what activity you are doing. (Did you know that many effects of a hangover are caused by dehydration? Learn more here.)
Rest – Especially When Injured
It is very important to plan a rest day in your exercise routine. Resting prevents your body from becoming overworked. Many people fear that taking a break will cause their performance to dip, but the opposite is actually true.
Occasionally giving your body a day to recoup will actually help you come back stronger the next day. If you are injured, it is even more important to rest. If you do not let your bones and muscles heal, you can injure them further. Make sure that you take ample breaks, even during your workouts.
Listen To Your Body
Some people say that pain is a weakness leaving the body, but pain is a signal that something has been damaged or something has gone wrong. The same is true of other signals – if you are thirsty, grab a drink, if you are tired, take a break.
Learning to listen to your body can prevent countless injuries. Of course, there is something to be said about mind over body, but don’t ignore the signs that your body is giving you, as they are there to protect you. Learn to distinguish the different cues your body gives you so that you can be safe while working out.
Eat Healthy
We all know that we should be eating healthy, but did you know that eating healthy can help you prevent injury? Sports injuries are often a sign of imbalanced nutrition. Eating healthy will help your body become stronger and repair more quickly. Often, people try to lose weight and they don’t eat enough calories. Your body needs calories, nutrients, and even fat to work properly.
Make sure that you get plenty of vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, vitamin D, fiber, omega-3s, zinc, etc. You can get this by eating plenty of red meat, brown rice, fish, seeds, vegetables, whole grains, fruit, etc. The best time to recoup your nutrients is right after your workout. Muscle damage is repaired most quickly in the first two hours after your workout. During that time, you should eat protein and carbohydrates to help your body repair.
Avoid Alcohol
Alcohol consumption impairs judgement, slows reaction time and increases the risk of injury. People are 4.5 times more likely to get injured when they are inebriated than when they are sober. Heavy drinkers are also 1.35 times more likely to get injured even when they are sober. It also increases your risk for kidney failure, heart disease, and pancreatitis. Avoid alcohol to decrease your chance of injury and disease.
Category: Health
