Kenneth Gardner
AS WE increase our level of participation in physical exercise or as our enthusiasm for exercising improves, injuries are more probable. However, with reasonable foresight many injuries can be prevented. We can, for instance:
Become aware of our exercising environment, making it more safe by eliminating potential hazards.
Take care in planning our exercise programme to reduce the number of accidents and injuries. When we embark on intense exercise after insufficient warm up or we do an intense workout when we are physically unfit, then we are courting injuries. The rate of injuries and accidents can be substantially decreased when we exercise within the limits of our fitness.
Pay careful attention to the selection and fitting of all exercise gear and to the use of exercise equipment to minimise the probability of injuries. We should always consider the best equipment that we can afford. We should use good equipment carefully and properly.
Wear protective supports in instances where it may be necessary for us to participate in an exercise routine before we have fully recovered from an injury (while considering carefully the decision to participate in exercising before full recovery).
Get enough rest when tired to enhance the odds of injury prevention or reduction.
When effort is put into carefully developing an exercise programme and there is a logical progression from one activity to the next, the challenges are more exciting. By developing more strength, endurance, flexibility and speed we are able to meet and surmount injury-provoking situations; we are able to recuperate more rapidly and effectively from vigorous rounds of activity and from fatigue and our reflexes are sharpened.
Repetitive rounds of exercise that are progressively more intense induce permanent changes in our bodies which in turn enable us to perform exercise even more intensely, skilfully and efficiently.
Kenneth Gardner is an exercise physiologist at the G.C. Foster College of Physical Education: email: yourhealth@gleanerjm.com.
