Although this past week’s weather would not suggest it, spring is approaching, which means spring sports have already begun. Some people take a break from strenuous exercise over the winter. While the break is nice, it can mean training differently to prepare your body for an injury-free sports season.
“As we come out of the winter where we’re more sedentary, both youth and adults, we’re very prone to injuries. That is often due to a lack of conditioning and just being sedentary throughout the winter. There are things we can do to help minimize those problems,” said Loukas Koyonos, an orthopedic surgeon at Kaiser Permanente, who specializes in surgical and nonsurgical sports medicine.
Some of the most common injuries in the spring season include sprains, muscle pulls, torn ligaments, knee injuries, tennis elbow and shin splints.
“There are things we can do to minimize these conditions,” Koyonos said.
He suggests first being aware of your activity level in the winter months and easing into a new exercise routine. He suggests warming up before participating in sports or strenuous exercise.
“It requires some effort and preparation to train in strength, agility and flexibility leading into sports,” Koyonos said.
Finding the proper equipment for your sport and body is another important element in preventing injury. This could mean trying on a range of different shoes to find ones that fit properly or discussing the proper fit with an expert.
For those who have had past injuries, a brace may be needed to provide more support to the area. Koyonos said to recognize past injuries and work on those areas by strengthening around that injury.
