Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 4, 1991 TAG: 9102020355
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JANE E. BRODY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In most cases, the physical and emotional benefits of an active life style outweigh the risks by far. Still, you could tip the balance even more in your favor if you understood the causes of injuries and heeded preventive advice.
By definition, exercise stresses body parts. Without such stress, you would not get stronger or increase your endurance.
But sometimes exercise pushes the body beyond the limits it can sustain.
The parts most prone to damage are muscles, tendons (fibers that connect muscles to bones), ligaments (fibers that join two bones) and cartilage (cushions between bones).
Most injuries occur because stresses are applied too abruptly to tissues not prepared to handle them - so-called acute injuries - or when tissues are repeatedly stressed over a long period in even a mildly abusive manner - overuse injuries.
Examples of acute injuries are a groin muscle pulled in a tennis game, an ankle sprained during basketball or a knee ligament torn in a fall while skiing.
Overuse injuries include tennis elbow (an inflamed tendon in the elbow), stress fractures (microscopic breaks in bone from repeated running or jumping) and heel spurs (plantar fascititis, a ligament injury in the arch of the foot).
Overuse injuries are the body's equivalent of metal fatigue. They occur when repeated stresses to less-than-perfect bodies cause microscopic damage that never gets a chance to heal.
An acute injury, on the other hand, happens like a bolt of lightning and usually leaves no choice but to stop doing the activity then and there.
But determined athletes sometimes compound their injuries by trying to play through the pain. The skier who makes several more runs after injuring a knee, the basketball player who tapes up a sprained ankle and goes back on the court, the tennis player who finishes the match despite a groin pull - all are inviting a needlessly prolonged recovery.
Acute muscle injuries are more likely to occur when muscles are cold or tired or have not been used for a while. Such muscles are less elastic and therefore less able to withstand sudden stresses.
Ligaments are more likely to give way under sudden stress when they lack the support of strong, flexible muscles.
Overdoing an activity is unquestionably the leading cause of injuries. Your risk of an overuse injury is increased if you do the same high-impact activity more than four times a week or if you suddenly or dramatically increase how much you do - in speed, distance, time, frequency or workload.
It makes more sense to vary your workout so that the stresses on your body are more evenly distributed and body parts that are overstressed get a chance to heal.
For example, instead of running or doing high-impact aerobics every day, alternate with cycling, swimming or skating, which put less stress on knees and hamstrings.
Such cross-training, as it is called, also results in more balanced muscle development. If your primary activity involves mostly the legs, choose a secondary one that gives the arms or upper body a workout.
Whatever you do, build up gradually in intensity and duration. If you are planning to participate in a race or a long-distance effort, allow many weeks to train, gradually increasing your distance.
Trying to do too much too soon may result in an injury that takes you completely out of the race.
Make sure your body is up to the stresses you are placing on it.
The best way to protect ligaments is by strengthening the muscles that support them and by adequately warming up and stretching before entering full tilt into your activity.
Warming up and stretching may not do much for runners or cyclists, but they are important for activities that require flexibility and a wide range of motions, like tennis, basketball, baseball, skiing, hockey or figure skating.
Weekend athletes whose bodies are out to pasture for five days a week should be especially certain to take this precaution.
Do not try to stretch cold muscles. Warm up first with some light aerobics, like jogging in place or brisk walking.
If you have been away from the activity for a few weeks or longer, be particularly careful about the intensity of your workout at the start. Your body needs time to "remember" what it is supposed to do and to rebuild its stamina to meet the demands of the activity.
by CNB