Considering The Risks of Exercise

By: Amy Burychka

One cannot be seriously involved in a physical activity without considering risks factors, how to prevent injuries and how to treat them if and when they occur. Sports not only help pushing our endurance level, they help pushing our pain threshold further.

This means that the more we practice a sportive activity, the less pain we feel and the more prepared we are to endure pain when it occurs. This is due to our body's ability to adapt to harsher conditions of life and the changing in our internal organ exchanges.

There is a misconception about pain as some people regard it as something that is always negative. Pain can be a helper when it warns our body of its limits and when it teaches us how to place our body properly, when to stretch, when to treat it, etc. Pain can teach our body how to take care of it.

There are 4 kinds of pain resulting from workouts: Two are signs that you are doing the right thing; the other two are signs that you have injured yourself so you have to revise safety guidelines for your workouts and rest.

A burning feeling is due to the lactic acid building up in your muscles while exercising. This acid prevents you from doing more than 10 to 15 repetitions in case you are doing muscle conditioning. This sensation of burning disappears as soon as you stop the exercise and more oxygen returns to the muscle.

Localized soreness can occurs 48 to 72 hours after discontinuing exercising. To avoid soreness, make sure you are stretching (slow and controlled stretches) before and after each set of exercises. Warm compresses and massage can also help. If the soreness lasts more than 3 days, you may have strained a muscle.

A pulled or strained muscle is not a very good sign in your workout. This kind of pain appears when the muscle or the tendon has been over-stretched. To avoid strains, start the exercise with the larger group of muscles (thighs, back, chest) and work your way down to smaller muscles (shoulders, triceps, biceps, calves and forearms).

If you strain a muscle, stop exercising immediately. You will need a few days of rest. Strains heel easily if not ignored and properly cared for. Sprains are severe injuries. A sprain occurs when the ligament is pulled or twisted exaggeratedly. Sprains are accompanied by severe bruising and swelling. The best you can do is to see a doctor.

Strains and sprains are treated with the RICE treatment which stands for Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. Elevate the injured body part higher than your heart. Watching TV while resting is therefore out of question. You should lie down completely. Roll a few layers of bands around the injured limb, then secure a frozen vegetable package over the band.

You can also use blocks of ice that you put inside a towel and crush against the floor or a wall. Leave the ice for 20 minutes against the injury and remove it for 20 minutes. If too uncomfortable, put the ice in place for 20 minutes and renew the treatment every hour. For all injuries, time is a master word as well as rest.

Therefore, never ignore any pain you are feeling. Localize it and determine its gravity. Be prepared next time you workout by making sure that you are placing your body properly, that you got plenty of rest, that you warm up the muscles before any activity, that you stretch after the warm up and after the cool down, that you are alternating low impact activities with high impact activities, that you are using proper shoes and drinking plenty of water.

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