Best Practices to Stay Injury-Free

Whether you’ve got an established exercise routine, a job that requires repetitive physical tasks, or you’ve been spending too much time couch potato-ing, there are lots of simple things you can do to prevent sports, work, or life-related injuries and recover more quickly if you do get hurt. These injury prevention and recovery strategies are designed to make you physically stronger while also building your physical, emotional, and mental resilience. Taking a holistic approach that incorporates movement, nutrition, sleep, and stress management and adjusting it to meet your needs and goals is key.

Common Injuries and How They Happen

Anyone engaged in physical activity in any environment can be susceptible to common injuries like tennis elbow, tendinitis, dislocations, strains, and fractures. The most common injuries are related to the muscles, tendons, bones, ligaments, and other tissues that enable movement and provide stability to the body. So you might get one while exercising, doing housework, or if you work in a factory or construction, for example.

The Difference Between Acute and Chronic Injuries

Injuries fall into two general categories:

• Acute Injuries: These result from a sudden event or trauma to the body, like a fall, twist, or blow.
• Chronic Injuries: These develop over a period of time due to repetitive movements and overuse in one area of the body.

What Are the Risk Factors?

Of course, anyone can suffer an injury. But there are various factors that make people more vulnerable, including age, lifestyle, and sex. There are also specific things known to increase risk of injury, such as:

Improper Training Habits

• Poor form and incorrect exercise techniques
• Overtraining by training too frequently and/or for too long
• Beginning activity at full throttle rather than building intensity over time
• Not warming up or stretching
• Running or jumping on hard surfaces
• Playing the same sport year round, taxing the same muscles.

Improper Training Habits

• Not wearing shoes that provide enough support
• Not wearing proper equipment or wearing old or broken equipment

Lifestyle Factors

• Having a prior injury
• Taking certain medications

Injury Prevention Strategies: Daily Movement & Resilience Building

It’s well-established that regular physical activity, including strength training, is good for your body and your mental and emotional health. Sweating it out helps reduce stress, improve heart health, build strength, and even boost your body’s ability to adapt and recover from injury. Making sure you exercise properly from the get-go will help you reap the benefits and reduce your risk of injury.

Safe Exercise Guidelines

Whether you work out regularly or are just starting your fitness journey, follow these steps to help avoid injuries before they happen:

Check In With Yourself (And Maybe Your Doctor)

How are you feeling? Do you have any past injuries or ongoing health issues that need to be accommodated? For example, chest pain, dizziness, high blood pressure, and certain medications. If the answer is “yes” or you’re not sure, check in with your Primary Care provider. They can help flag any concerns, give you the green light, or connect you with a Health Coach for more targeted fitness tips.

Once you’re ready to get started or if you’re looking to level up your routine, you can get a Fitness Assessment with one of our Fitness Coaches. They can create a personalized exercise plan that fits your needs and goals, help you stay on track, and support and guide you along the way.

Don’t Skip the Warmup

Always warm up! It’s a crucial step to keeping injuries at bay. Even gentle, light movement boosts oxygen levels in your heart, lungs, joints, and muscles, raises your body temperature and heart rate, and gets you ready for more intense activity. Spend at least 5 or 10 minutes doing a warmup like:

• Brisk walking
• Stationary bike or elliptical machine
• Move your arms and legs (arm circles, jumping jacks, squats)
• Stretch

Use Proper Workout & Lifting Technique

Once in the revved-up part of your workout—whether using equipment at the gym or taking a yoga or Pilates class—being aware of your form is key, especially as you get tired. Why? That’s when it’s easiest to get sloppy, which is when injuries are more likely to occur. Whether you’re just starting out or need a refresher on proper form, a personal trainer, class instructor, or Fitness Coach can help.

Lifting improperly or repetitively is a primary cause of injuries. So if your go-to workout involves lifting, or you need to lift things for work or just in day-to-day life (groceries, boxes, etc), keep these tips in mind:

• Ask for help if something’s too heavy
• Always have a spotter at the gym
• Switch things up between your right and left arm to balance out your muscles

Cool Down

Just like the warm-up, the cool-down is essential to staying healthy, fit, and injury-free. It signals to your body that the hard work is done, and it’s time to focus on recovery. Your heart and breathing rate and circulation will slowly return to normal, and you will be ready to move on to whatever’s next. Take 5 or 10 minutes to do one of these:

• Stretch
• Gentle yoga
• Slow, short walk

Holistic Recovery Strategies

Despite our best efforts, we all get hurt sometimes. Post-injury rehabilitation and recovery will be different for everyone. First things first, you should consult with your Primary Care provider to see what they recommend. They can assess how serious your injury is and come up with a game-plan for recovery, as well as provide medication, equipment, or referrals to Physical Therapy or other specialist care as needed.

We also recommend following the principles of rest and active recovery. They incorporate physical, mental, and emotional practices that help you realign, de-stress, manage pain, and heal faster. They can also help prevent future / additional injuries, so it’s great to build them into your routine, regardless.

• Nutrition: Eating nutrient-rich foods helps healing and muscle repair
• Hydration: Staying hydrated helps reduce inflammation and speed cell repair
• Sleep: Quality sleep supports immune function, pain management, and muscle repair
• Stretch: Simple stretches boost blood flow and improve flexibility / range of motion
• Light Activity: Incorporate gentle activity like walks when possible
• Stress: Reduce stress hormones with deep breathing or meditation
• Mental Health: Therapy teaches coping strategies and builds resilience

The most important thing is to listen to your body (and your doctor!) and come up with a plan that works for you. If you need help, our Fitness Coaches can provide expert advice on how to weave these injury-prevention and recovery strategies into your workouts, ensure proper form on the job and in the gym, set up a personalized fitness plan, and much more. Your Primary Care provider can help assess your overall health, manage any chronic injuries or other conditions, and help connect you with Physical Therapy or Chiropractic Care if needed.