Stop Injuries Before They Happen

If you are exercising, proper warm ups, good nutrition, and getting adequate sleep are essential to staying injury free. Foam rolling and gentle stretching on a regular basis help too, but no matter how diligent we are, most of us will occasionally experience strains or pains that we know aren’t quite right. How we respond to these conditions can make the difference between a few days off and several weeks or months off. For example, maybe we have a sore ankle or knee, and rather than take a day or two off, we keep trying to “run” through it. Or, we over respond to a sore muscle or joint by foam rolling it aggressively or stretching it repeatedly. The next thing you know, the sore muscle or joint is REALLY sore or swollen and now we’ve got a true injury on our hands. When things flare up, note them, baby them with extra TLC (and a few days rest) but don’t ignore or over work them either.