Archive for year: 2016

Knee injuries are among the most common types of sporting injury. You use your knees for all kinds of different actions and there are many different types of injury. Sometimes, you can bounce back from knee injuries quickly. In other cases, you may be out of action for months. If you’re a fan of sports, or you work out regularly, this guide will hopefully help you to stay injury-free.

Strengthening and conditioning

The knee joint is heavily used in lots of different sports. Strengthening and conditioning exercises can improve mobility and flexibility. They will also help to reduce the risk of injury. You can work through a program with a sports therapist, or include targeted stretches and exercises in your training sessions. It’s also a good idea to try and condition your hips. Your knees and hips work together, and if you have weakness in either joint, this will manifest in the other.

Image credit https://www.flickr.com/photos/dfid/17203097648

Warming up

Before you do any exercise, no matter how intense, warm up. Take a few minutes to stretch the muscles and get the heart going. Exercising without warming up is one of the most common causes of sports injuries.

Protecting your knees

If you are prone to injuries, or you have a history of knee problems, there are products you can buy to offer greater protection. A compressive sleeve for knee joints is a good idea. This kind of support helps to stabilise the joint while also improving circulation and aiding recovery. Search online for reviews or ask your doctor or personal trainer for recommendations.

Rest and avoid overtraining

It’s common for the knee joint to suffer if you overtrain. If you repeat actions such as jumping, for example, the joint can become painful and inflamed. It’s understandable to want to push yourself. But doing too much is often counterproductive. Pay attention to your body. If you feel fatigued, have a rest.

Play to the conditions

Knee injuries often result from rash tackles or sudden changes of direction. If it’s raining outside and the ground is slippery, take extra care. Always make sure you are wearing suitable footwear.

Perfect your technique

If you’re playing sport or doing exercises in the gym, make sure you use the correct technique. If you’re lifting, for example, bend your knees, and lift up from the legs with your back straight. If you’re not using the right methods, your risk of injury will be much greater.

Seek medical advice

If you’re worried about a knee injury, seek medical advice. If you’re getting pain, the joint is inflamed, or it feels weak, see your doctor. It’s always better to get injuries checked out. If you leave them, they are likely to get worse.

Exercising has numerous benefits, but it often carries risks. If you’re a big sports fan, or you work out a lot, it’s important to be wary of injuries and protect your joints. Always warm up and cool down. Wear a support and take enough time to recover. If you are worried about injuries, don’t hesitate to visit your doctor.

An essential element of our mission for ever-greater fitness is footwear. What we wear on our feet matters. If our shoes aren’t any good, we’ll be uncomfortable. In the worst case scenario, a bad shoe can lead to injury.

Things are changing fast in the world of shoes. Now you can get some amazing sports shoes for relatively low prices. You’re bound to find something that suits you.

The following are some of the most exciting shoes on the market right now.

Nike Zoom Soldier

Nike wasn’t messing around when they chose the name “Zoom.” They really did want to make a shoe that was “So fast, you’ll buckle up.” And to a degree, they’ve achieved this.

This shoe is great, whether you’re looking run over many miles or just need to do fast sprints. And it helps to protect your feet through a variety of mechanisms. One is the air pockets under the sole of the shoe, which help to cushion when the foot strikes the floor. The other is the cross-linked internal mesh of fibres. These add directional support while running.

The shoes aren’t cheap, but thanks to these Foot Locker coupons, you can get some substantial money off the final price.

HOKA Speedgoat

HOKA were going for a similar vibe as Nike with their Speedgoat name. They wanted to capture the idea that your shoes would help you run faster. Perhaps even as fast as a mountain goat.

But while they might not be able to achieve that, the shoes themselves are quite impressive. They feature a Vibram sole from the off-road specialists. So this means that, in theory, you can take these shoes with you if you go mountain running.

The shoes themselves are lightweight. And they come with some enhanced geometry designed to help while running over rough terrain.

Brooks Glycerin 13

The Glycerin is Brook’s attempt at an adaptable shoe. It’s designed to cater for all sorts of different gaits. And it’s meant to offer a range of different cushioning levels. The company’s IDEAL Pressure Zone technology distributes pressure over the sole of the shoe. And this helps to reduce the force your foot experiences when striking the ground.

In other words, if your running style isn’t ideal, then the shoe is designed to accommodate this. In a nutshell, it’s forgiving.

Pearl Izumi EM Road M2

Pearl Izumi has decided to go high-tech with their new road running shoe, the EM Road M2. Rather than have the upper made in a factory, it’s actually 3D-printed out. That means that it’s a lot lighter than it would have been. And the shape is also more finely tuned to the shape of the average runner’s feet. Though we’re still a little way off personalised trainers, Pearl Izumi’s new shoe reminds us that that day is not far off.
The shoe itself features a couple of crush pads under the sole. These are designed to redirect energy from hitting the road, back up into the runner. This literally gives them a spring in their step.

Everybody knows that exercise, together with a healthy and balanced diet, is the best route to physical and mental fitness. Nothing equals the thrill of the ‘endorphin rush’ after a really good workout. Or the warm contentment following a good, brisk walk or bike ride.

But it’s all too easy to overdo things. Perhaps you’ve pushed yourself harder than your body really wanted, whether that’s in the gym, or a run that was just that bit longer and faster than usual.

It can take a day or two for muscle pain to really hit, and then it can be debilitating. It will certainly curtail any inclination to exercise for a while, and that’s self-defeating! Tiredness and injury can affect anyone, even those of us who consider ourselves to be seriously fit.

Recovery

The first tip is: don’t let it put you off or discourage you. Stiff muscles and a few aches are quite normal, and can actually be a sign that your level of fitness is improving. Delayed onset muscle soreness, known as DOMS, is likely to affect people starting a new exercise regime, or making changes to an existing one. The NHS has some really good advice from Dr Jonathan Folland, an expert in neuromuscular physiology at Loughborough University.

The simple truth is that time recovering is as important as time exercising, particularly for more strenuous workouts, walks, runs and bike rides.

Treatment

Injury is clearly more serious than simply overdoing things a bit, and there are several treatments available. Which you choose will depend on the type of injury, and what part of the body has been hurt. A few suggestions:

• Hydrotherapy
• Chiropractic
• Stretching
• Compression garments
• Massage

Back Pain

One of the nastiest injuries that can lay the fittest person really low. There are several specialized treatments including IDD Therapy, Shockwave Therapy, and Low Level Laser Therapy. The physiotherapists and chiropractors at the Central Chiropractic Clinic have proved them all to be effective in treating chronic and recurrent injuries and conditions. They are all fully qualified and know exactly how to treat injuries from the ankle to the neck.

Stephen Small explains IDD Therapy Incidentally, although back injuries can be caused by failing to exercise safely, even stress can be a factor. We unconsciously contract our muscles when we’re stressed, and this can cause pain in the neck, upper back and lower back.

Yoga can also be a huge help, and special Yoga for Healthy Lower Backs courses devised by the University of York and Arthritis Research UK are well worth trying.

So, take care when exercising, try not to get stressed, and remember that help is available if you do fall victim to the dreaded injury!

Yoga has been around for centuries and has been helping people achieve enlightenment for the same amount of time. It traces its roots to India where it laid the foundations for Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism. Yoga is a discipline that requires and improves one’s mind, body and soul. This practice has also gained prominence through the ages because of the healthy elements it imparts on practitioners. There are even stories and cases of men and women suffering from severe maladies that have been cured by constant yoga practice. This is the best reason why the tired and weary health worker needs to get off the couch and into the yoga mat; to stay fit and healthy.

There are conflicting origins for yoga. Some would cite the pre-Vedic Indian traditions which have been mentioned many times in the Rigveda. Others claim yoga to have been developed around the fifth and sixth centuries BC as part of Indian movements known as ascetic and sramana. As time progressed, Yoga gurus found several ways to introduce the discipline to the west after the success of Swami Vivekananda in the early 20th century. While the east practiced yoga for both mind and body, the west embraced yoga as a physical exercise.

Yoga practice, tree concept for your design

But how can health workers, involve yoga in their lives? Yoga isn’t just about doing strenuous poses for a fixed amount of time. It involves reflection and proper breathing. It will also call some serious dedication and perseverance. Would you believe that those poses are only a part that makes up the philosophy behind yoga? It’s a deeper and richer practice if you take the time to learn the teachings.

Let’s first examine the physical benefits that health workers like doctors, nurses and paramedics can get when they start doing yoga. Improved muscle strength – muscle strength is important for health workers especially when they are responding to emergencies which require them to lift something heavy.

Increase blood flow – practicing yoga and following the proper breathing exercise can help keep your blood flowing faster, making you more alert.

Boosts Immunity – mastering the different yoga poses also gives nurses and EMTs a boosted immunity that will be a big factor when dealing with patients. This comes in handy especially in situations where there is a need to handle patients with communicable diseases.

Makes You Happier – a happy worker is a healthy one. The physical aspect of yoga helps your body release all sorts of hormones that can improve a person’s mood. This in turn can lead to better output and a positive outlook towards work and colleagues. A study found out that constant yoga practice can gradually relieve you of depression and an increased amount of serotonin levels. The same study states that the physical exertion also lowered the levels of monoamine oxidase and cortisol. Long term yoga practitioners also showed large amounts of activity on the left side of their brains.

Gives Back your Focus – in an industry like the health care industry, its so easy to lose focus especially when ridden with fatigue and insane amounts of stress. Practicing yoga not only keeps your mind alert and active it also brings back your focus. Studies show that yoga improves coordination, reaction time while at the same time vastly improving IQ scores. There was even one case where the respondent was practicing transcendental meditation and showed prowess in problem solving as well as recalling things. This is really important especially for doctors who deal with life-and-death situations most of the time.

This proves that there is nothing wrong with allotting sometime to take care of yourself by practicing this ancient discipline. If anything, this could prove to be beneficial and could even help you improve your performance at work, garnering more praises and even a promotion down the line.