Warm up before sport or you’ll pay the PRICE (From York Press)

Warm up before sport or you’ll pay the PRICE

10:33am Monday 16th January 2012 in Health & Wellbeing By Richard Catton, richard.catton@thepress.co.uk

ONE of the most common resolutions is to lose weight and get fit. After a season of cookies, sweets and parties, it’s only natural that a vow to lose weight and get fit would follow.

Each year millions of individuals take up a sport, commence exercise or join a gym with the best intentions, but without taking an in- depth look at what the body will be subjected to. Playing sport and taking regular exercise is good for your health, but sometimes you can injure yourself.

The idea this new year, according to Adrian Moore, integrated clinical Service manager at York Nuffield Hospital, is to “get fit to play sport, not play sport to get fit”

“Sports injuries can be caused by failure to warm up and down; many of the body’s tissues, muscle in particular, respond better to loading when they’re warm,” he explains.

“The warming up process should include whole body exercise that increases blood flow to the muscles and makes them more responsive.

“Following every exercise session, you should also warm down, bringing your body back down to normal, usually through low intensity activity followed by stretches.”

Other causes include inadequate equipment, especially footwear.

He said: “If your activity involves impact, such as running and jumping, then wear proper footwear that supports your feet and cushions your body from shock is vital.”

Poor technique, too, is a another way the inexperienced but good-intentioned athlete can be caught out. A number of so-called “overuse injuries” are related to technique, and some injuries are named after their sport, for instance, tennis elbow. Often, it is the repetition of an action with a faulty technique that results in excessive load on a tissue, subsequently leading to injury.

And, of course, says Adrian, there’s injury usually the result of impact and collisions and typically occurring suddenly, so generally there’s not much you can do to prevent them.

Most common sports injuries

• Muscle pull: Probably the most common injury. This can happen to almost any muscle in the body from strain, overuse fatigue or taking a fall. A muscle pulls when a sudden, severe force is applied to the muscle and the fibres are stretched beyond their capacity.

• Shoulder injury: It is the most common injury in sports that involve overhead movement. These problems are generally due to overuse, which loosens the group of tendons and muscles that surround the shoulder (rotator cuff). This causes pain, stiffness, weakness and slipping.

• Lower back strain: Almost all sports participants experience this injury at some point, usually from twisting awkwardly, lifting a heavy weight or undertaking unfamiliar sports activity. They primarily occur due to weak or tense muscles, causing a pull of the muscle fibres, leading to backache.

• Neck strain and pain: Usually affects one side of the neck. It can cause pain when turning the head, and occurs when the muscles tighten up and stiffen after a long period in an awkward position, for example, mountain bike riding.

• Ankle sprains: Occurs when you “go over” on the ankle causing a stretching or tearing of the ligaments on the outside of the ankle. This injury is almost inevitable in sports that involve running, jumping and turning quickly.

• Tennis elbow: An inflammation of the origin of the muscles and tendons of the forearm, leading to pain. This is an overuse injury caused by a repetitive movement.

• Shin splints: They are most often brought on by overuse or jumping and running on a variety of hard surfaces, a change in footwear or an alteration of technique. This causes swelling and pain along the shin bone.

• Runner’s knee: Occurs when overuse leads to irritation on the lateral (outer) aspect of the knee. A painful condition caused by soft tissue rubbing against the bony femur (thigh).

• Treatment: Immediately following an injury, follow the PRICE principle. This will limit the swelling, reduce pain and allow a return to function much sooner.

P ROTECT: Use splints, pads and crutches to prevent the injury worsening.

R EST: Helps to prevent further worsening.

I CE: Apply immediately after the injury. A bag of frozen peas wrapped in a damp towel is best. Use the ice for 15 minutes every three hours, if possible, in the first 48 to 72 hours.

C OMPRESSION: Apply on elastic bandage to help reduce the swelling.

E LEVATE: Raise the affected joint above the level of the heart to reduce swelling.

If you are unfortunate enough to suffer an injury during your New Year regime, and the problem is minor or not much more than a little stiffness or soreness, it may be that you have simply been doing a little too much too soon. Following the above PRICE guidelines and having some rest may be all you need.

However, there may be an underlying reason for the soreness, and it never pays to ignore an injury especially when it may be very easy to identify its source.

Adrian recommends consulting a physiotherapist who has a specialist in-depth knowledge of musculoskeletal problems.

However, Adrian said that any advice should not be substituted for the medical advice of your own doctor or any other medical professional.