How to Prevent Injuries and Still Enjoy Your Favorite Winter Sports
Some people loathe winter, but those that know better make the most of it by diving right into winter sports. There’s so much fun to be had from sledding to skiing and everything in between.
However, winter sports can also lead to injuries that will put you out of commission until beyond that snow thaw. While accidents do happen, a surprising number of these injuries come from a lack of precautionary measures. Prevention is the best way to minimize your risk of injury while engaging in winter sports.
So, how can you work to prevent injuries?
– Get a good warmup
It doesn’t matter how young you are. If you don’t stretch and warm up before getting into your winter sports activities, you leave yourself more prone to injury. The colder your muscles, tendons, and ligaments are, the more likely you are to hurt yourself.
– Wear helmets when applicable
For sports like snowboarding and skating, it’s a huge mistake to go into it without proper head protection. Use the right helmet designed for your sport. That means no bicycle helmets as those won’t protect you properly for winter sports. And should you take a tumble and give that helmet a big hit, make sure you replace it as soon as possible to keep yourself fully protected.
– Don’t overdo it
Your body doesn’t get the message that it’s tired until long after you’ve finished your physical activity. Those endorphins will make you feel good but if you overexert yourself, pushing beyond break time, you may find yourself on the phone with your physiotherapist pretty soon.
– Play by the rules of your chosen sport
Sometimes things will happen in sports that are beyond your control that will lead to an injury. But for all those other times, you can avoid a major injury by keeping in line with the rules of your winter sport.
– Keep fit
If you regularly exercise daily, you will prime your muscles for the rigors of your winter sports. Prepare your muscle groups to be engaged for these actions by doing sets the build them up.
– Seek out proper care before and after
Have you been injured before? It would be wise to contact your physiotherapist to help you maintain proper range of motion so you don’t ignite pain at your old injury site. And even if you’ve never been injured before, physiotherapists can help you with preventative exercises to keep you in tip-top shape.
Don’t say you don’t have time. In Your Home Therapy can come to you whenever it’s convenient with expert physiotherapy care in your own home!
