Headed Back to the Gym in January? Avoid Common Gym Injuries.

January 2014 - The New Year is here and it's time for a new you!  45% of Americans create New Years Resolutions and 38% are weight loss and fitness related.  The gyms will be crowded just as they were last year and just like last year 50,000 people will go to the hospital with gym related injuries in January alone.  There are many more that go unreported.  Getting injured can often be a deterrent to reaching your fitness goals.  Luckily for you this article is here to help you avoid such a fate so that you can stay on track all year long.

The name of my practice says it all, you must take a Progressive approach to your fitness goals.  If you have been on the couch for six months or more your body will not be ready for high intensity, impact or heavy weights.  It is best to find out what your fitness level is and look for muscle imbalances through a postural assessment.  Starting with a stretching and strengthening program before starting in on heavy cardio programs will keep you from pulling muscles, tearing ligaments and ending up back on the couch planning for next year.  Once you feel your exercises are getting easier, change it up by increasing weight, adding more cardio like circuit training or increasing the amount of repetitions per exercise.  Keep building!

If you are going to start a running program it is best to progress into this as well.  Start your first week with an amount of mileage you can handle and increase each week by 10% but backing off by 20% on every third week.  This is called a taper week and will keep you from burning out.  Your training program would like this:

Week 1: 10 miles  Week 2: 11 miles  Week 3: 12.1 miles  Week 4: 9.7 miles  Week 5: 13.3 miles
  or
Week 1: 20 miles  Week 2: 22 miles  Week 3: 24.2 miles  Week 4: 19.25 miles  Week 5: 26.5 miles

These distances can be rounded to the nearest half or quarter mile. Now here is how to avoid some common injuries at the gym or on the road.

Shin Splints: 15% of gym-goers will experience pain in the lower front leg.  Now you don't have to be one of them.  When running on a treadmill make sure you bring your incline up to at least a 1.  When you do not put any elevation on your treadmill it is like you are running downhill the whole time and this puts stress on your tibialis (shin bone).  Making sure you have the right shoes for your feet and gait are important to avoiding shin splints so have a professional at a specialty running store assess your gait and suggest shoes.  You also want to make sure you are not running too many miles too fast (refer to the 10% rule above).

If you still get shin splints you can use Kinesio Tape (KTape at Sports Authority) to tape them up and keep running but with shorter workouts.  This tape was once only available to physical therapists but have become mainstream and available OTC.  You can also stretch the calves by doing towel stretches and heel walks. 

Another 15% of runners will also experience Plantar Fascitis.  Plantar fascitis is when you experience small tears or inflammation in the tendons and ligaments running from your heel to your toes.  This is another injury that can be avoided with the right shoes.  Many who experience plantar fascitis have too high or low arches, over or under pronate or have muscle imbalances.  This injury can also be caused by over use so watch your mileage and make sure you have the right shoes.  You also want to strengthen your ankles by doing toe raises or calf presses to avoid this injury. 

If you get it, you can run through it most of the time.  If it is too much and you don't want to give up try water running or swim until it is healed (as much as 6 months).  When you are off of your feet ice it by filling up a 20oz soda or water bottle, freezing it and rolling it under the arch of your foot.  Towel stretches are another great way to relieve the pain.

One of the most common gym injuries are of the Low Back variety.  What's different about this one is that it starts at work.  We sit all day at work with a rounded upper back hunched over our computers.  When we go to the gym we want to raise all kinds of weight over our heads such as in shoulder presses.  Our upper back can not extend properly and it causes our body to over compensate and low back to arch.  The same can be said when we curl too much weight and compensate with our low back.  Our low back revolts from all the stress placed on it and it leads to minor and major back injuries. 

Low Back injuries are not something we can just work or exercise through.  It is important to go back to the beginning of this article and re-read what is said about starting with stretching and strengthening.  If we are seated at desks most of the day and it has been since last March that we have been to the gym our muscles are tight and most likely ready to SNAP!  Also add to that you must build muscle evenly on both sides of the spine.  This is no more true than in the low back.  Many people do crunches, planks and other ab exercises without building the strength in their low back.  So combine the sitting, the pressure and the over head lifting and POP!  Practice low back twists without weight and low back extensions with or without weight to strengthen the low back.

There are many more injuries that could happen out there and I could write a book about it but you probably don't have that kind of time.  Remember that all things should be done progressively.  Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will your fantastic beach body be but you can make sure you don't experience any setbacks by avoiding injuries.  For more information on how to avoid common gym injuries you can tune into my online radio show: WellFit Radio Chicago on Blogtalkradio.com Thursday January 2nd at 8pm CST.  I will discuss these injuries and more as well as how to avoid and treat them.  If you are worried that you may injure yourself when beginning an exercise problem it is well worth the investment to enlist the services of a personal trainer.

Stay happy and healthy in 2014!

Jason C. Venckus CPT, PES & H.C.
Owner Progressive Complete Health
progressiveathleticsiht@gmail.com
www.goproveg.com