Muscle Pain / Sprains & Strains

Muscular pain, like other soft tissue injuries, can be a result of an injury to muscles, tendons, ligaments and cartilage.
Some of the most commonly caused sports injuries are from overusing a muscle, direct impact from sport, or from having such force to the body which is greater than what the body is built to handle. Acute injuries can happen quickly, like when you sprain you ankle.

When you overuse a muscle or joint through repetitive activity, you may cause a more persistent injury to occur. It’s important to make sure that your technique is correct to avoid such an injury. You never know how serious your injury could be, so it’s always important to seek assistance from a professional.

Common Types of Sports Injuries
Some of the more common sports injuries include, ankle or wrist sprain, soft tissue bruises, groin strain or hamstring strain.

A fitness program is a very good way to ensure you maintain a healthy lifestyle. A program that includes a cardio workout, resistance training and stretching, will give you a good balance of health benefits.

Reducing the Risk of Injury
Before you jump into any fitness activity though, remember the following vital information that will help you prevent muscle pain, strains & sprains.
Two important things to remember are to warm up before you do any exercise and to cool down afterwards.

Warming up – increases your bodies temperature which warms up your muscles.  Warm muscles, tendons and ligaments are more fluid, so they stretch and contract more easily. The benefit of this is that they are less likely to become injured and it will make the muscle stronger.

Warming down – this stretches the muscles which can be shortened during exercise. Gradually decreasing the activity prevents blood from pooling in lower muscles, which in turn doesn’t upset the flow of blood to the heart, a known cause of faintness or a more serious condition.