If you’ve been receiving chiropractic care regularly, you already know just how important core and upper body strength is for your posture. When you have a strong core, you’ve got the ideal support system for a healthy spine. To maintain that strength, you need to be on the lookout for injuries from overuse. Here are our tips for avoiding them:
Overuse Injury Basics
So maybe you don’t take part in high-impact exercises or extreme sports, but that doesn’t mean your exempt from overuse injuries. This type of injury can certainly be caused by high intensity exercise, but it is really repetitive movement that is the cause. That means you can experience an overuse injury from simply sitting at your desk, typing away on the computer! If you do any sort of activity or movement over and over again, you are at risk of overuse injury.
Overuse Injury Prevention
Fortunately, we have some suggestions to prevent injuries:
Identifying the cause of the problem – If we are to properly treat your injury, we have to know what is causing it. With a better understanding of your lifestyle, we’ll have no problem pinpointing the problem.
Cross-train – You don’t eat the same foods everyday, so why limit yourself to the exact same workouts? Not only can that lead to boredom and seeing your results plateau, it can also cause an overuse injury. Running 5 days a week? Try hitting the yoga studio. Spend your workouts becoming a cross-training champ? Pilates can be a great way to chill out and recharge, while still feeling the burn!
All about balance – In order to live a healthy life, you have to be able to create balance…and that goes for your muscles, too! If your muscles are tight and overworked, take the time to stretch them out. Alternatively, if they are weak, introduce some strength training. That balance is crucial to avoiding and preventing overuse injuries.
Rest day – So your goal is to develop a strong core to better support your spine. That doesn’t mean you should be hitting an intense ab workout everyday. At least one day per week is required for your body to properly recuperate.
Manage swelling and inflammation – Receiving chiropractic treatments regularly is a great way to get relief form overuse injuries, but you should also know the basics in managing them on your own. Sometimes good old fashioned heat and ice therapy is all you need!
Visit Your Chiropractor
Overuse injuries aren’t always the most obvious. Over time, a number of small, unhealed injuries can accumulate, which will leaving you at less than your best. Those traumas may be small, but they will eventually leave you in a weakened state and negatively impact how you move.
Do you have more tips to prevent overuse injuries? Leave them in the comments below!