The coordination of your body parts in harmony with one another is the foundation of the movement of your body as a whole. By designing and developing a balanced routine of exercise, you can strengthen your body and prevent imbalances which may lead to heightened risk of injury or illness. Recognizing signals from your body, as well as having a basic understanding of types of injuries can help you to effectively workout and better prevent injuries from occurring.

Benefits of Regular Exercise

Exercise can be one of your best tools for strengthening your body’s musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, and immune systems. It can also play a major role in your emotional state of mind. It is possible that exercising regularly can also improve your cognitive function, assist with healthy stress management, and promote the production of hormones that can help in balancing your emotions.

The benefits of a solid exercise routine are far-reaching. By meeting the recommended amounts of exercise depending on your age group, you can drastically improve your body’s ability to handle the demands of everyday life while increasing your level of fitness.

When there is an imbalance in your body’s musculoskeletal system, it forces other parts of your body to overcompensate in order to adjust to maintain the ability to move and handle the forces of everyday life. This can over stress or strain muscles, tendons, ligaments, soft tissues such as cartilage and/or synovium, or even bones which can put you at a higher risk for injury.

Types of Injury

Injuries can come in all shapes and sizes. By gaining a basic understanding of the different types of injury, you can more effectively recognize the signs and symptoms. When you are dealing with types of injuries, there are normally two classes that they can fall into, cumulative and traumatic.

Cumulative injuries are often caused by damage done to tissues as a result of repetitive stress and strain over a period of time. These injuries may be caused by factors that you may not be completely aware of in your day to day life. Something as simple as poor posture can drastically affect your musculoskeletal system and place you at a much higher risk of developing and experiencing an injury down the line. Environmental conditions may also play a role in developing cumulative injuries.

Traumatic injuries are often classified by damage to tissues that occur suddenly. Depending on the severity of the injury, you may require immediate medical attention to avoid possible life-threatening situations or loss of limb. Traumatic injuries can range from a rolled ankle to more severe consequences resulting in systemic shock and impaired mobility such as spinal cord injury, broken or fractured bones, and/or torn or ruptured muscles, tendons, ligaments.

Factors that can lead to both cumulative and traumatic injury include:

  • Weakened ligaments, tendons, muscles, and bones
  • Muscle imbalance
  • Dehydration
  • Fatigue
  • Overuse
  • Sudden increase in intensity of activity
  • Poor nutrition
  • Poor body mechanics

You may also find that environmental conditions can play a role in causing an injury, such as terrain or climate. Paired with any of the factors mentioned above, your chances of sustaining an injury can be greatly increased. Implementing proper amounts of exercise into your daily routine can significantly improve your ability to deal with, and limit your risk of injury.

Conditioning Your Body

Conditioning your body to improve your strength, muscular balance, and functionality is paramount to decreasing your risk of sustaining an injury from mild to severe in nature. Proper exercise and nutrition can not only reduce your risk of injury but also improve performance and your overall health. You may also find that implementing orthotic aids, such as braces and compression sleeves, to assist with supporting and stabilizing problem areas are a smart idea while exercising to prevent re-injury.

Strength training is the practice of moving your joints through ranges of motion while applying resistance in order to force your muscles to contract and expend energy to move your bones. This practice is used to strengthen your tendons, ligaments, muscles, and bones, as well as increase muscle mass. By strengthening your connective tissues and bones you can help ensure that your body can handle greater stresses and strains without failing. This is integral to your ability to avoid injury. When implemented into your conditioning routine this can also help to improve your agility, speed, and muscular endurance.

Proper nutrition and hydration are keys to the healthy function of your body. They ensure that during fluid exchanges, your muscles, tendons, and ligaments are all receiving the necessary nutrients to function as well as repair and become stronger. Nutrition and hydration also play a major role in bodily functions such as digestive health and temperature regulation. These functions are crucial for exercise as well as everyday health.