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Cheerleading Leads to Serious Injury

FitSugar — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:00:13 -0700

If you've seen Bring It On, then you know cheerleading is serious business. Gymnastic moves and daring lifts are just as important, if not more so, than the symbolic pom-poms. When it comes to serious injuries, cheering is number one and those feats of daring are to blame.

Cheerleading, at both the high school and college levels, was found to cause the majority of catastrophic injuries in a comparison of all sports-related injuries. The study, conducted by National Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH, explains that catastrophic injuries usually involve spinal cord damage, which is indeed serious business.

According to a report released last year by the National Center For Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, injuries sustained by high school cheerleaders in the last 25 years account for just over 65 percent of all catastrophic sports injuries sustained by female high school athletes, and the statistics for college cheerleaders are just as high. This makes women's rugby not seem so rough.

Were you a cheerleader?

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Save Your Breath: Explanatory Slings

FitSugar — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:15:00 -0700

If you're a weekend warrior or prone to injury, you might find these explanatory slings handy.

Having lived through a couple of different shoulder injuries, which both required sling time, explaining my situation became old, and fast. Unfortunately, these supports weren't around when I was injured, nor are they available now. These cute explanatory slings are a concept of a designer who no doubt has had his fair share of upper body injuries. Hopefully you all will make it through your next weekend sporting event free of injury.

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Have You Ever Had a Fitness-Related Injury?

FitSugar — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:00:00 -0700

Exercising is supposed to enhance our well-being, but sometimes if we overdo it or just have bad luck, we can get hurt while exercising. Many people hurt their knees from running, pull their hamstring in yoga, or injure their wrist playing tennis. So tell me . . .

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Active Release Therapy Is ART

FitSugar — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:00:00 -0700

While I love a massage, I have found the relaxing strokes of Swedish massages just don't penetrate the deep kinks that accompany overuse injuries from serious training. That is why I appreciate the targeted technique of active release therapy (ART). It is like no other therapeutic technique I've tried when it comes to healing a chronic injury.

ART is a movement-based soft tissue massage technique used to treat problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, and nerves. Plus, it is patented, so practitioners using this technique are certified through the ART program. This technique resolves chronic injuries quickly by creating length in scar tissue; it is this scar tissue that shortens muscles, binds nerves, and adds to tendinitis pain. All these injuries create the kind of pain that can make you inactive.

An ART session combines evaluating the tissue and the movement patterns around the injured area. The massage element combines active stretching while the therapist provides a tension to the stretch targeting the tight, scarred tissue. I will admit an ART session can be a little painful when compared to your average spa massage, and occasionally the sessions have left me bruised. Injuries are generally resolved in two to 10 sessions and sessions are generally 15 minutes long per area being treated. In my area, an appointment with an ART practitioner costs around $70. While not the cheapest treatment in the world, getting back on the run feels priceless.

To find an ART practitioner in your area, check out this provider search and get on with the process of healing!

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How to Avoid Sports Injuries

FitSugar — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 02:30:00 -0700

I think it is safe to say that no one enjoys being sidelined by an injury. If you have ever sat on the sidelines and watched your team play, you know how sitting out can hurt almost as much as the injury. On that sad note, here are a few ideas on how to avoid those sports related injuries that put you off your fitness track.

Warm up: Take 10 minutes to bring your heart rate up to your target zone while gradually priming your muscles and connective tissue for action. Warming up improves your overall mobility and coordination.
Cool down: Cooling down works like your warm up, but in reverse. By taking 10 minutes to bring your heart rate safely back to normal, you also help your muscles flush any build up of waste products from your muscles. This helps decrease post workout stiff joints and sore muscles.
Stretch: You should definitely stretch after every workout; just include it in your cool down (see number two). Keeping flexible reduces your chances of pulling a muscle or straining a ligament.
Good Technique: There is often a reason for "technique" and it is not usually an aesthetic one. No! Good technique helps to protect the body. Form is very important when it comes to working with weights. If you find that you are lifting sloppily, stop and evaluate the weight you're lifting and your form. Using control is always a good idea when strength training.
Good Shoes: Good shoes go a long way. Most athletics shoes are highly engineered to protect your feet and your body from the impact often associated with running. Plus, sneakers are designed to handle the specific demands of different sports. Playing tennis in running shoes is practically a twisted ankle waiting to happen.

Hopefully these tips will keep you playing all season, no matter if your sport is soccer, running, or step aerobics!

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Dealing with Winter Sports Injuries

FitSugar — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 14:05:00 -0800

No matter if you are new to snow boarding or an old pro at skiing, injuries happen. Here's a few guidelines for dealing with your twisted knee or a muscle strain from accidents on the mountain.

The best thing for an immediate injury is RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation). So don't go into the hot tub, apres ski, or if you do keep your injured limb out of the hot water. Using heat instead of ice can delay your recovery turning a seven - to ten - day recovery into a four-week one. Taking your anti-inflammatory of choice immediately post injury can significantly aid your recovery.

About seeing a doctor? If you are improving after 3 days, chances are you will do just fine on your own. However, if your tweaked knee is still severely swollen and you don't have full range of motion of the joint, you should have it checked out by a physician.

Going to 6 to 8 sessions of physical therapy can definitely help you work through your injury and help you regain strength and mobility.

Have fun on the mountain, but play it safe too and take care of yourself if you happen to get hurt. That way you hopefully won't miss the rest of the season.

What was your most recent sports injury?

FitSugar — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 07:30:00 -0700

Unfortunately we all get sidelined from time to time. We trip. We fall. We overwork. We get hurt. So, I am curious...

Don't Run Yourself Into a Stress Fracture

FitSugar — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:00:29 -0700

Over training happens. You love what you do. You do it too much. Your body starts to break down. Your bones begin to crack. An over use injury you definitely want to avoid is a stress fracture.

Common in professional sports that intensely work the lower body like running and basketball - hoops star Yao Ming has been suffering from one in his foot for two years now and marathoner Paula Radcliffe has battled one in her femur.

A fracture, aka broken bone, is caused by a sudden trauma like a fall. A stress fracture occurs when a bone can't hold up against repeated stress overtime. Cells known as osteoblasts make bones and attempt to keep the bone strong and rebuild them while under strain, while osteoclasts are cells that remove damaged bone tissue. The repeated stress weakens the bones, and ultimately the osteoclast cells win creating a microscopic fracture on the surface of the bone. This small crack can create lots of pain. X-rays usually cannot detect the fracture, but an MRI or bone scan if deemed necessary can diagnose a stress fracture. Often a stress fracture can be diagnosed based on your history, since over use injuries often run a specific course.

Learn how to avoid a stress fracture.

5 Ways to Prevent Summer Athletic Injuries

FitSugar — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 04:00:00 -0700

The summer brings a lot of us outside, getting involved in many activities and sports but before you go balls to the wall, consider these tips from Dr. William Levine, chief of sports medicine at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, on staying injury free this summer:

Your best bet is to prevent injuries before they happen. First of all, start slow. Don't expect to be in the same playing condition that you ended up in last fall, even if you have been maintaining your fitness level. New activities require muscles and joints to respond in a different way. This may result in minor soreness while your body adjusts. If you push yourself too hard too soon, that minor soreness could turn into something more serious.
Don't forget to warm up. Although you may feel warm in good weather, you still have to give your muscles a chance to go through the motions and get blood pumping to all the necessary areas. Gentle stretching before finishing your activity will help those hard-working muscles retain and improve flexibility.

There are three more tips, so read more

For tennis elbow, runner's knee, and similar injuries, try R.I.C.E. -- rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Rest means that the injured area is not put through any undue strain. When icing a body part, apply the ice in a covering so that it is not in direct contact with the skin. A cotton handkerchief covering the ice is helpful. Ice the affected area several times a day, for about 20 minutes at a time. Compression is applying pressure to the injured area to stop bleeding (if any is occurring) or to reduce swelling. Elevation helps in these respects as well. Compression and elevation are to be used in the case of acute injuries, such as a twisted ankle.
Take frequent breaks. Even tennis pros rest between sets. Taking a rest doesn't mean that you have to completely stop all activity (although it may be advisable sometimes). Just rest the body parts that are working hard and are susceptible to injury.
The single most important thing you can do is pay attention to your body. Don't ignore the little aches and pains in the joints and muscles. They are early signals that could help you prevent more serious injuries.

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Hazardous Summertime Sports

FitSugar — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 04:30:00 -0700

Being physically active means sometimes accidentally hurting yourself. Forbes has ranked the top ten hazardous sports, based solely on the number of injuries reported from emergency rooms in 2006. Take this quiz and see which sports you might want to avoid if you are trying to stay in one piece.

Helpful tip: the numbers used in the ranking do not take into account the varying participation rate of the sports, so the more people playing the sport the higher the number of injuries. So, yes, this might also seem like a popularity contest.

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