Exercising is a crucial factor in maintaining a healthy body and mind. This is a commonly known fact and 76% of American adults report that they engage in regular physical activity. Yet according to New Orleans orthopedic surgeon Dr. Richard Meyer, practicing certain exercises can cause more harm to the body than good.
He sees many patients who come in because they have injured themselves working out. How can we remain physically active, exercise regularly and at the same time protect ourselves from exercise injury? Dr. Meyer offers the following tips to help prevent exercise related injury and suggests certain exercises to avoid.
Warm up before rigorous exercise. A common mistake is to begin the exercise routine with extremely difficult exercises. It is important to warm up the body before engaging in rigorous activity. Saving your most difficult exercises for the end of the routine could prevent a trip to your New Orleans orthopedic surgeon. Following are some examples.
Deep Squats: While deep squats can help develop strength and power in the legs, they place far too much strain on the knees.
Lat Pull-downs: This is a popular exercise in gyms, but according to your New Orleans orthopedic surgeon, it puts the neck in an awkward position and can also cause strain to the shoulder. Worse yet is that the risks with lat pull-downs are multiplied if the individual uses too much weight.
Military Press: The military press is not as troublesome as the lat pull-downs, but this “classic” gym exercise can also be destructive to the shoulders. Lifting heavy weights overhead puts pressure on the rotator cuff and can lead to acute tears or gradual fraying and tearing of these tendons.
Abdominal/Back Exercises: Some abdominal and back exercises require excessive flexion or extension of the lumbar spine. These exercises require the performer to contort into end range positions of extreme flexion or extension and can be very damaging and potentially injure intervertebral discs.
Jogging is a frequent cause of exercise injury. Though jogging is a very efficient form of cardio, it is not an exercise for everyone. The constant pounding on the feet, ankles, knees, hips and back can cause breakdowns at any of these locations.
These are just several examples of exercises that can lead to a visit to your New Orleans orthopedic surgeon. All exercises can potentially cause injury, but these exercises are too risky for the physical rewards they offer. Always use proper technique, warm-up thoroughly and progress resistance gradually to avoid injury and get healthy.