Avoiding the most Common Injuries

There are two types of pain when it comes to physical activities. There's the good pain; meaning sore muscles that will recover and become bigger and/or stronger. Then there's the bad pain where it seems to be hurting at a specific point of your body; usually you feel as if something sharp is poking you. Most of the time, this pain is felt when you are doing specific movements.

For example, shin splints seem to hurt more when you are walking on them than they are when you are just standing. In the end, both pains feel bad, but one is beneficial where as the other one isn't. Below I'll explain how you can avoid the most common injuries and what to do if you suffer one.

Sprained Ligaments and Muscle Strains and Tears

You've probably heard people say that they pulled a muscle or sprained a muscle. Most people think it's the same thing, however it's not.

Straining a muscle is mostly called pulling a muscle. Meaning, you torn a tendon or you overstretched. These happen when you push yourself beyond your limits. An example of this is when you go on a all out sprint with no proper warm up.

Spraining means that overstretched a ligament or torn one. A common example of this is running on uneven ground, then all of a sudden you fall and your ankle rolls on you.

The inner groin and hamstring muscles are the two muscles that are the most strained. Usually, these muscles are strained because they aren't properly warmed up. When you feel a sharp pain shoot up your leg, you know that you strained your hamstring.

If you find that you can't lift up your leg and feel pain on your inner thigh, you have a pulled groin. If you strained a muscle, make sure you give it rest; otherwise if you continue to work it, the strain might turn into a tear.

The ligaments in the ankles are usually the ones that are sprained the most. You probably seen a basketball play run and jump to shoot the hoop, but when they land, they fall and you notice that they landed on their ankles. When the ankle is sprained, usually on impact you hear a pop or tearing sound. When your ankle is sprained, it quickly swells up and it's nearly impossible to put any pressure on it.

In order to prevent these injuries, make sure you proper stretch your entire body. If these injuries occur, Use the RICE formula. Meaning: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

Rest: Avoid physical activity for a period of time.

Ice: Ice the area of which your injury has occurred for 20 minutes (after the 20 minutes is up, wait 10-15 minutes then ice again)

Compression: Wrap the area where you are injured with a elastic bandage tight enough so the area can still fill with blood and contract.

Elevation: Elevate the injured body part so the swelling can be reduced.

Shin Splints

Another name for shin splints is shin pain. These happen because you got a new pair of shoes and just started wearing them, walking long distances or running for a long period time. What happens is that there's a separation between your shin bone and your shin muscle.

When you encounter shin splints, use the RICE formula. As well, massage the area where your hurt.

To avoid shin splints, make sure that your calve muscles and your shin muscles are balanced. Usually, if one muscle is stronger than the other, shin splints will occur. Also make sure to buy a new pair of shoes every once and a while. Overtime, the cushioning of the shoes will decline, and your shins won't be able to take the pounding (from walking or running).

Achilles Tendonitis

Named after the Greek warrior, achillies tendonitis is a painful experience. Many athletes get achilles tendonitis because they stand upright and move. Achilles tendonitis is also caused by the calve muscles being tight and short.

To prevent achilles tendonitis, one should frequently stretch their leg muscles (hamstring, quadriceps, calves and feet). In the long run, stretching these muscles will greatly reduce the chance of achilles tendonitis. However, if you encounter it, you should use the rice method and stop doing what you are doing. Do not stretch the leg muscles or even put pressure on your foot.

Knee Pain

Knee pain is probably the most common injury to athletes and trainees. Knee pain occurs when there's a torn muscle, ligament, tendon or even missing piece of cartilage inside the knee cap. A lot times, knee pain occurs when you are constantly performing the same set of movements over and over again. Other times, it can be just muscle imbalance between your quadriceps and hamstrings.

To prevent knee pains, do different activities that work on different muscles or the same. For example, squat one day, cycle the next and jog the day after. However, if you find that you have very bad knee pain, contact a doctor immediately.

Stress Fractures

Walking long distances while carrying heavy objects with no breaks usually cause stress fractures. This means that there is build up of bone material on your feet. Usually there isn't a single fracture on the foot, but a bunch of small ones. You know you'll have them when you find it painful just to even walk a short distance or when you wake up, a sharp pain goes up and down your foot.

If you think you have stress fractures, visit a doctor.

Lower Back Pain

This one is probably the most annoying injury out there. If you have lower back pain, you usually find that almost everything you do causes your back to hurt. Many people who wake up usually want to stay in bed because of the pain, however this is a horrible idea. This will cause muscle weakness in the muscles that are located in your lower back.

If you have back pain, it's best to rest until the pain is gone. If you find that you still have pain in your back after a few weeks or so, visit a doctor. To prevent lower back pain, make sure to exercise the lower back muscles properly. Activities such as yoga, swimming and walking will also help with relaxing the lower back muscles.

Tennis Elbow

Even if you aren't a tennis player, you can still get tennis elbow. Tennis elbow means that the tendons in your elbow are inflamed. It is usually caused by lifting weights with the wrong form or carrying something straight armed for a long time.

When you feel pain in your elbow, stop the activity and ice down your elbow. Getting a brace can also help. In order to prevent tennis elbow, make sure you strengthen your triceps and forearms.

Neck Pain

When you have neck pain and you want to look at something to the side, you have to turn your entire body to do it. Neck pain can be caused by anything; whether it's sleeping the wrong way, sitting with a poor posture, talking on the phone for a long time, or lifting weights with very bad form.

Easy stretching and massaging will help prevent neck pain and help when neck pain occurs. Although icing the neck would be the common thing to do, icing can make things worse because the neck is already stiff, and icing can cause the neck to stiff up even more.

Rotator Cuff Injuries

Rotator cuff injuries are probably the most painful injury there is. You know you have a rotator cuff injury when you feel very sharp pain in your shoulder area. Rotator cuff injuries usually occur because of the lack of strength and stability of the rotator cuff. They can also be caused by throwing objects repetitively.

In order to prevent rotator cuff injuries, you must proper work on your rotator cuff as well as your shoulder muscles. When you suffer from a rotator cuff injury, you should use the RICE formula and exercise with very light weights (shoulder movements).

Chafing

This and lower back pain are probably the most annoying of all injuries. Chafing occurs mostly in hot weather and when:

• You are biking and you develop a rash on your body or inner thighs

• You are running and rashes appear on your sock lines, under arms, legs (due to tight shorts) or bra line

• Blisters on your feet are similar to chafing and are caused by your shoe rubbing up against your feet the wrong way

Preventing chafing requires you to wear fabrics and clothing that are light enough so they don't irritate your skin. Before you perform the activity you are doing, make sure that you apply vaseline or something similar on the spots where irritation can occur.

Now that you know how to handle these injuries, make sure you apply them if you don't want to be stalled on your activities

TankTom is a writer who writes about almost anything interesting, however most are health related. Other than that, he also writes about baby products that all busy parents should get to relieve some stress and keep the babies entertained. Visit http://www.babyplayarea.com for more details.