Bodily injuries are painful and debilitating. Some of them even have the potential of setting you back days, weeks, or months from your exercise goals – and healthy life.
When you head to the gym, the last thing that comes to mind is sustaining an injury. Unfortunately, injuries do happen. In fact, injuries are more common than one would like to imagine. Some of them are due to your actions, while others, due to negligence on the part of the gym. In case the latter happens, you could be entitled to compensation. However, since most gyms require members to sign some kind of liability waiver before joining, proving fault might be an uphill task. In which case, you will need an experienced personal injury lawyer, like those from Naqvi Law to help you recover your losses.
Learning about the common injuries and how to avoid them is an excellent thing because it will not only save you from potential pain that’s associated with personal injury, but also from having to spend lots of money trying to fix the problem. In this article, we will highlight some of the common exercise injuries and how to prevent them.
Strained back
If you have weak back muscles as a result of extended sitting at home or work and you go to the gym too hard and too fast, you may end up with a strained back. The best ways to ensure this doesn’t happen is to lift your legs as opposed to the back, and slowly strengthen your back muscles with low key exercises.
Pulled hamstrings
A hamstring isn’t just one string. It is a group of three muscles at the back of your thigh. It lets you fold your leg at the knee. A hamstring strain happens when one or more of these muscles bear more weight than the rest.
In some cases, they may even tear. The injury is often associated with activities that involve lots of jumping and running or sudden starting and stopping. To avoid getting a hamstring injury, you should always warm up your body before indulging in any exercise.
Dislocated joint
This happens when a bone pops out of a joint. You can dislocate just about any body joint including your shoulder, ankle, hip, or knee. And since it means that your bone is not where it’s supposed to be, you have to treat it as an emergency and get medical attention immediately. Otherwise, you may end up damaging your blood vessels, ligaments, or nerves. To avoid joint dislocation, you can wear protective gear in the gym, prevent falls, and exercises frequently to maintain the flexibility and strength in your joint muscles.
Sprained ankle
This doesn’t happen on the run only. It can occur on any single-leg exercises. The ankle is mobile, but the surrounding ligaments are susceptible to tears when the joint rolls too far. A sprained ankle is particularly notorious on a treadmill and happens when one loses their focus and end up placing one foot on the belt and the other on the side while it’s still moving. To avoid it, you need to stay focused. Performing flexibility exercises and strengthening the lower leg and foot muscles can also go a long way.
