Playing sports and exercising is highly beneficial for your physical and mental health. However, people often injure themselves during intense physical activity due to poor training practices, accidents, lack of proper warm-up, or improper gear. This causes injuries like sprains, strains, knee injuries, swollen muscles, fractures, and dislocations. Though sports injuries seem inevitable, following some of these measures can prevent them or lessen their severity. Take a look at some of the vital injury prevention tips:
Injury Prevention
- Adequate training: Before you set your first step on the field, you have to train yourself properly and be in a proper physical condition to play that sport. Often, people think that playing the sport will get them in shape, and this leads to severe injuries. Instead, they should first train themselves and get in proper shape to prevent sports injuries.
- Wear protective gear: Some athletes consider that protective gear is for those who are weak. And because they are not well equipped, they hurt themselves. But safety gears—including mouth guards, helmets, protective pads, and gloves—are important to wear before playing any sport to prevent sports injuries.
- Abide by the rules of the sport: The rules of the sport are designed to keep the players safe. Therefore, you need to learn all the rules of the sports that you are willing to play. In fact, while on the field, you should insist on enforcing all the rules by umpires and referees. These rules will keep you and your fellow players healthy.
- Warm-up before playing: When you are warmed-up, your muscles do not get shocked by sudden intense activity, and warm muscles are less prone to injuries. Depending on the sport you play, you can either perform simple stretches or some sport-specific warm-up exercises.
- Listen to your body: Pain is a warning sign of injury and if your body is aching, avoid overworking yourself. Instead, take a day or two off to let your body heal and recover from the strenuous training sessions. You can get back to training once the pain subsides.
Coping With A Sports Injury
The most common and immediate way to treat a sports injury is the P.R.I.C.E. method. It consists of five essential steps:
- Protection: You will have to take special care of the affected area and protect it from further injuries.
- Rest: Avoid exercising and playing till your injury completely heals, and your physician allows you to play again. Take adequate rest to prevent the injury from escalating to a major, lifelong issue.
- Ice: Consider applying ice to the affected area for 15-20 minutes. Repeat this after every 2-3 hours. Do not let the ice come in direct contact with your skin, as this can cause an ice burn. Wrap it in a towel before applying.
- Compression: If the affected area is swollen, use compression bandages during the day to alleviate the swelling.
- Elevation: Whenever possible, elevating the injured body part above your heart level can also reduce swelling.
Foot Injury? We Can Help!
At FootDocStore.com, we offer a range of products to treat your foot injury. While our wound care and bandages can protect your affected area and treat your wound, our pain relief products can help alleviate your pain and discomfort. Along with using our products, we recommend you visit your podiatrist to know more about your foot injury and get appropriate treatment.
For more questions or concerns, you can call us at 1-631-277-8900, send us a mail at info@footdocstore.com or fill out a simple online form. One of our representatives will get in touch with you shortly!