INJURY PREVENTION
Kids love playing sports, and parents love all the good things that come out of a kid staying active in a structured environment. But that isn’t to say that sports don’t come with a risk of injury, and children end up in the doctor’s office or hospital room every year because of getting hurt during games or in practice. There are reasons for increasing trends, but it doesn’t mean you should be afraid to get your children involved. The answer, as always, lies in prevention.
Here are six tips for keeping your children injury-free while playing sports.
1. Insist on Being Serious about Warming Up
It is pretty common for children and even some coaches to gloss over the need to warm up before playing, and in fact, if you step into our nation’s gyms, you’ll often find that even adults skip stretching before getting a workout. But skipping warm-ups and stretches is often a cause of getting hurt. It’s important they get their muscles limber and blood flowing before the actions start.
2. Keep them in Shape
Much like being unprepared for not warming up, many children are unprepared for the field or court because they are in poor shape and do not get regular exercise. The trend of sports-related injuries is increasing for this very reason. So be sure to keep kids active all year round; especially if they play seasonal sports that leave them inactive much of the year.
3. Teach them to be Aware of Other Players
Often, sports injuries occur because players are not thinking enough about the other players on the field. Two players run into each other while running for the same pop fly, neither of them remembering to call the ball. Someone dives into a pool without looking for underwater swimmers. A bat is heaved carelessly to the side as a player runs for first base. Or, two highly competitive soccer or basketball players mimic their most unruly idols, stopping at nothing to ensure they are the one that gets the ball.
Teach children to observe how easily someone can be hurt on the field by their actions. Teach responsible play.
4. Insist on Proper Safety Equipment
Kids and especially teenagers are typically just too cool to recognize the importance of proper safety gear, but nothing is less “cool” than getting injured necessarily. Teach children to be responsible for these precautions, and set a good example. Break out the helmets for even short bike rides, and round up safety equipment even when playing the most informal neighbourhood baseball games.
5. Never Allow Playing Through Injury
“No pain no gain” is a die-hard sports idiom that about everyone knows, and it is one our nation’s children take far too seriously. Do whatever you can to abolish this type of mindset because even an insignificant temporary injury can become a lifelong problem if not taken seriously.
Those are just a few of the things you can do to stress safe sports with your children. It’s all about realizing that some of the rules and recommendations of the game are there to protect us and respecting them for that very reason.
While athletics are essential for healthy growth of children, it is also important to take care of their safety during this. It is necessary that they wear proper safety gears, follow all the rules and play safe. Staying safe during sports is not that tough, all you need is to be careful and attentive. Given below are few simple tips on prevention of sports injury.
The first step for prevention of sports injury is to wear proper safety gears. Helmets, wrist guards, mouth guards, elbow and knee pads, padded shorts, etc. are some common safety gears used in multiple sports. Specific safety gears depending on the particular sport you are playing should also be used. For example, if the child is biking or skating, elbow and knee pads is a must-wear in addition to helmet to prevent injuries during a fall.
Use safety gears/ equipment that is in good working condition. Safety accessories that are not used properly or doesn’t fit you well may not be able to offer appropriate protection. A loose pair of elbow and knee pads that get replaced in a fall will not safeguard your knee properly. Similarly, a helmet that has undergone several crashes may not be safer and can break during falls.
Gain the skills required to perform well in the sport you like. Exercise to strengthen the muscle needed to perform in that particular activity. Correct muscular movement can help a great deal in saving any sport-related injury.
There’s nothing quite as disappointing as working out hard and then realizing that you have injured yourself. If you have a sports injury, the chances are that you got it while you were doing something that you loved, and though that doesn’t take away the pain and the ache, it might comfort you as you heal. If you want to recover thoroughly and quickly from a sports injury, there are a few things to consider.
First, work with your doctors not against them. If the doctor says that you need to stay off the foot or to rest your arm for the next four weeks, do so. Too many people simply rest until their bodies have stopped hurting and then to their surprise, they simply end up re-injuring themselves. The truth is that the lack of pain does not mean that your body is healed up; it only means that your healing has entered the next level.
Get plenty of sleep and water. Your body needs resources to heal, and that includes more than food. Your body builds itself up while you sleep, and if you are not getting enough sleep, this process is delayed. Take a moment to consider how much you are sleeping. More sleep helps you heal faster, so consider going to bed a little earlier tonight!
Do some shopping. Okay, this won’t help you heal faster, but it will keep you distracted, and it can also help you prevent injuries in the future. For example, if you are trapped at home, look up sportswear online and make sure that you have great equipment to see you through whenever you get back to your sport of choice. Online shops have a great deal to offer, especially when it comes to things like women’s sportswear, which may be less common at your local stores.
Take painkillers when you need them. While there’s nothing wrong with toughing it out, there is no need to suffer pointlessly either. Being in constant pain is something that can keep you from healing as well as you would like, so consult your doctor for an appropriate painkiller and use it judiciously.
If you are healing up from a sports injury, remember that you will not be out of action forever. Your healing time might feel as though it is excessively long, but if you heal up completely before you get back to it, you’ll be much more likely to avoid a second injury!
