Tips for Spring Athletes

After a long, lazy winter, the key is to start slow…

Over the last two years we have all been impacted by staying inside and socially distancing. Now that we can get outside with warmer weather, it is important to remember a few things to keep you healthy and pain free. It's important to listen to your body and take precautions to ensure that you're being safe while active. You can keep yourself safe and healthy by taking these tips into consideration when starting your spring activities:

• Equipment: Be sure to have properly fitting safety gear to protect body parts, including helmets, wrist guards, knee and elbow pads, and proper shoes (well-worn shoes are notorious for causing overuse injuries).
• Timing: Start slow. Always start slow and gradually increase the intensity and demand of a training program in order to avoid overuse injuries. Listen to your body and take breaks.
• Warm up & Stretch: Warm up with a low-level activity like jog or jumping jacks before you stretch. Warm ups raise muscle temperatures, which prepare the whole body for physical activity, and thus reduces the risk of a sports injury. Warm up for a minimum of 5 to 10 minutes so the body can prepare for an activity. Stretch to improve blood circulation, increase flexibility and continue to raise muscle temperatures after a warm up. When you stretch, hold each stretch for 20-30 seconds.
• Technique: Learn the correct technique that is associated with a sport or activity to lessen the risk of sports-related injuries to tendons, bones, and muscles. If you are unsure of what techniques you are supposed to use, talk with a professional to help you.
• Hydrate: As temperatures rise, it's important to drink plenty of water. It is recommended that the average adult male drink 15 cups of water and the average adult female drink 11cups. If you have intense workouts or activity, you should increase the water intake appropriately (you can use your thirst to judge). Water is the best beverage to drink. Avoid beverages that are filled with sugar; they cause the body to lose more fluid than when drinking water.
• Cool down: A cool down and light stretching after workouts is helpful in loosening up those muscles while they are warm and limber from training. Sport-specific muscles that haven't been used in a while will likely be a bit sore.
• Be Smart: It may be difficult, but do not continue to participate in sports or activities if you have sustained an injury. It is not safe to "play through the pain" and could result in a more severe injury or a chronic problem. Allow the injury time to heal before you return. Remember the RICE method when you have an injury: Rest, ice, compression, and elevation.
  Give yourself at least 1 or 2 days a week to take a break from your sport or activity and give your muscles a chance to repair themselves.
• Get Checked: If you end up getting injured in the process of being active, it's important to listen to your body and get seen if your injury inhibits your daily activities or you have been in pain for a long period of time.