Spring is one of those seasons that makes you realise you have survived Winter reasonably in tact and can now launch yourself into all those activities you had no desire to do in the snow, cold or rain. Gym going is handy but you cannot beat being in the outdoors, the fresh air, lambs and good old english countryside. For cyclists whizzing past - it seems all too idyllic - until "thud" you have been knocked off your bike. How many times does this happen?? One work colleague who is a triathlete and has to train for hours on his bike has witnessed this twice in the last month. Unlucky. He now has an injury unrelated to these incidents ..a partial rupture of his achilles tendon which basically means he cannot train for the next 6 weeks or race.
This is probably the worst possible outcome for anyone -whether you are an athlete or not to have to pull out of a race is soul destroying. You have trained for it, you have psyched yourself up for it, you have endured the pain of it and now you cannot be part of it. Any Marathon runners - take heed from this and make sure you prevent this from happening.
Some facts: according to Sports Medicine Australia, 1/17 sports people suffer a sports injury playing their favourite sport. Perhaps no surprises there. But the interesting fact is that up to 50% of these injuries may have been prevented.
Top Tips to Prevent Sports Injury:
Why Warm-up?
- Prepares body and mind for more strenuous exercise
- Increases body's core temperature
- Increases body muscle temperature making them looser, and suppler
- Increases heart & respiratory rate which means more blood pumping around body and therefore more oxygen and nutrients to the working muscles
General Warm up:
- 5-10mins and a light sweat to elevate heart rate and muscle temperature so stretching is more effective now the muscles are warm.
- Safe and effective after the warm up.
- 5-10mins of main muscles groups ina relaxed way by breathing into the stretch and not forcing it. Hold each stretch for 15 secs.
- This helps to lengthen muscles and tendons allowing for greater range of movement at joints and to prevent muscle/tendon injuries.
- More rigorous activities such as football drills.
This is just as important as the warm up for staying injury free.
- Why?
Promotes recovery and returns the body to how it was before exercising. During strenuous exercise, muscle fibres, tendons and ligaments get damaged and waste products build up. - Helps with post-exercise muscle soreness - usually felt the day after exercise when walking downstairs is barely possible and you get "stuck" in a seat when working or driving. Not pleasant!
Cool-down Structure
Gentle Exercise
- 1 0-15mins (professional) or 3-5mins (amateur) of easy exercise that ressembles the type of exercise you were doing eg.jogging if you were running
- 20-30mins (PRO) or 5-10mins (AM)
- Drink plenty of water & a good quality sports drink & something to eat like fruit which is easily digestable.
Sports Massage has the same effect on the muscles in the cool down section - in that it prevents that post-exercise muscle soreness. If you would like to book an appointment, please contact Vanessa on 01491 577480 or 07906186912.
