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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – MCLEAN, VIRGINIA – From biking and jogging, to playing golf, tennis and weekend basketball, millions of people regularly enjoy athletics. As we all know, there are many benefits to participating in sports, but to do it safely, it is important to take precautions. Otherwise, we run the risk of incurring injuries that not only cause us pain and inconvenience, but also cost us financially in terms of medical expenses and lost productivity.
“I encourage virtually all of my patients to engage in regular, physical exercise to improve their health. I’ve found that many people could benefit greatly from learning more about how to exercise properly, so that they can continue to gain strength and flexibility while avoiding injury,” says Dr. David Wang, a specialist in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at The Kaplan Center for Integrative Medicine (www.kaplanclinic.com).
Whether you are a competitive athlete or just starting a new exercise routine, here are 5 tips that everyone who is physically active should consider adopting:
1. Customize your workout to achieve your personal fitness goals.
To improve your cardiovascular health:you should get your heart rate up to 70-85% of its maximal rate for at least 30 minutes per day, three days a week. To determine your maximal heart rate, subtract your age from 220. (e.g. the maximal heart rate for a 50 year-old is 170 (220 – 50 years = 170).
To optimize the body’s fat-burning capacity: you will want to exercise in a way that gets your heart rate up to 40-60% of your maximal heart rate.
To improve your motion awareness and bone strength:consider cross-training with soccer, basketball, tennis, or other activities that encourage more side-to-side movement and speed changes. Research has shown that pure long-distance runners, particularly women, can actually be more at-risk for stress fractures because the straight-line movement of running only strengthens bones in one plane, whereas cross-training strengthens bones in a more complete, multidirectional fashion.
2. Ditch the myth about stretching prior to exercise to prevent injury. Contrary to popular belief, recent scientific reviews indicate that stretching only before and after intense exercise does little to prevent injury. What does matter is your baseline level of flexibility. In other words, if you are already flexible, you have some reduced risk of muscle injury even if you do not stretch much before you exercise. But if you are not very flexible, doing a bunch of stretching just before exercise is unlikely to prevent muscle injury. Therefore, you need to stretch regularly over a period of time, and not just as a method of warming up before exercise.
3. Learn to stretch and strengthen correctly.
When stretching, hold each position for a minimum of 30 seconds. If the stretch is not held long enough, then the fibers will simply return to their pre-stretch length after you stop, and your stretching will be of minimal benefit. Once a muscle is properly stretched, the effect lasts for about six hours. Therefore, to improve flexibility most efficiently, one should stretch three times per day, for at least 30 seconds per muscle stretched.
When strengthening, work with a qualified and experienced physical therapist, personal trainer, or athletic trainer so that you can develop proper form and safe sports-motion habits early on. Give yourself a day between exercise sessions to allow for muscle cell repair and growth, for example, doing upper body strengthening on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and lower body strengthening on the other days. When increasing your exercise intensity, a generally safe approach is to increase your weight/resistance level by no more than 10% every 2 weeks.
4. Be diligent about seeing your doctor for regular physical exams to address significant or persistent injuries. Routine physical exams are very important for identifying conditions that may affect your ability to exercise safely, such as certain heart and lung problems or uncontrolled blood pressure. Let your primary-care doctor know about any concerns you have about your exercise regimen. It’s also a good idea to see your physician if you are experiencing any of the following:
* An inability to bear weight on an injured limb due to severe pain
* Pain that persists for more than 3 or 4 weeks without improvement
* New or progressive balance problems, numbness, tingling or especially weakness in your arms or legs
* Persistent dizziness or lightheadedness during or after exercise
5. Consider innovative treatment options. “Musculoskeletal injuries are extremely common; in fact, it is estimated that over 100 million injuries occur every year worldwide,” says Dr. Wang. “Of these, 30-50% involve ligament and tendon injuries. Fortunately, there are some exciting, new options available to treat these conditions, including platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy and prolotherapy, which enhance the body’s own healing capability to repair damaged tissue.”
PRP therapy involves taking a small amount of a patient’s blood, centrifuging it to concentrate the platelets – which contain numerous growth factors responsible for tissue healing, as well as blood-clotting factors – and then injecting it into the injured area to promote healing. This process has successfully helped such athletes as golfer Tiger Woods and football wide-receiver Hines Ward, among others, to recover from their injuries and return to play more quickly. Prolotherapy is another injection method, which uses simple solutions other than blood for treating injured tendons, ligaments, and joints. A growing body of medical research has demonstrated the effectiveness of these therapies in treating various painful conditions of the neck, shoulder, elbow, hand, low back, hip, knee, and ankle.
About The Kaplan Center for Integrative Medicine and Dr. David C. Wang, DO:
The Kaplan Center for Integrative Medicine is located in McLean, Virginia. For over 25 years, the Kaplan Center’s experienced and caring team of physicians, physical therapists, dietician, psychotherapists, and other healthcare providers have combined the best of conventional and alternative medicine practices to address patients’ chronic pain and illness and help them attain optimal health for life. Before joining the Kaplan Center in 2011, David C. Wang, DO, practiced musculoskeletal and rehabilitative medicine at two Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospitals — Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Newton Wellesley Hospital — and served as an instructor at Harvard Medical School. A nationally regarded expert in the treatment of musculoskeletal pain and an international leader in the growing field of prolotherapy and platelet rich plasma (PRP) therapy, Dr. Wang continues to train physicians from all over the world in regenerative injection treatments. Board Certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and skilled in osteopathic manual medicine, diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasound, and medical acupuncture, Dr. Wang offers a truly integrative approach to anyone suffering with acute and chronic pain problems. To learn more about Dr. David Wang and The Kaplan Center for Integrative Medicine or for more information on exercise and sports medicine topics, please visit the website at www.kaplanclinic.com.
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