As the weather gets warmer, it motivates many of us to get up and start moving, which is great!
But while exercise is one of the best things you can do for your overall health, jumping into it too quickly can lead to injury that will put you right back sitting on the sidelines.
“Warmer weather means more outdoor activities, and what happens is people are over doing it, doing too much,” Karena Wu, a board-certified specialist in orthopedic physical therapy and owner of ActiveCare Physical Therapy, said during a TODAY segment that aired April 7.
Some of these injuries may be a simple pulled muscle or soreness that requires rest, while other more serious injuries can cause you to make a trip to the doctor’s office.
Christian Glaser, DO, doctor of sports medicine at MedStar Health, and Michael C. Schwartz, MD, orthopedic surgeon and Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department Of Orthopaedic Surgery for NYU Langone Health, both say they see a variety of exercise-induced injuries in their exam rooms every day.
The most common culprits? Shoulder and low-back injuries, says Glaser. Schwartz agrees, and also adds knee injuries to the list.
We’re breaking down these common injuries, including how to know when your injury is worth a trip to the doctor’s office (and what treatment may look like) and how you can prevent them in the first place.
Lower body
“The most common injuries we will see 1681445673 are everything from the low back down,” said Wu. “That includes pulled quadriceps, hamstrings and calves … [those] walked into my office just this week. With outdoor activities there is a lot of repetitive lower-body movements and the body needs to propel itself, catch the body weight and absorb forces. If you’re not conditioned … that is when you get these soft tissue strains.”
The good news: These injuries are largely preventable with just a few minutes of stretching. “Dynamic stretches are a great way to warm up and prevent these springtime injuries,” Wu said….
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