Common Athletic Injuries

by
No comments yet

Athletes will experience physical injuries from time to time. Some athletic injuries differ depending on the kind of sports they play but there are common injuries to whatever type of games athletes play. Many of these athletic injuries result from falls and back related, such as slipped discs, back strains, and spine injuries. Other common injuries are sprains in the ankle and wrists, concussion and shin splints.

Here are the most common types of injuries, its symptoms and treatments and you will notice that the body parts most affected are the extremities:

  • Carpal Tunnel Syndrome involves some pain, numbness or weakness in the hands and wrists, and loosened grip strength. Here, the athlete should rest, apply ice, and a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug or NSAID and may be upon the recommendation of the doctor, a surgery if the injury last for more than 4 months.
  • Tennis Elbow affects the outside of the elbow and the athlete may experience the injury as painful to touch or bump. The pain usually happens when the athletes shake hands or tries to pick up a thing. The athlete must rest, apply ice, and take NSAID. They may also opt to wear a strap around their upper forearm to help in the healing of the injury. Exercises should be done to strengthen the injured part.
  • Rotator Cuff Tendinitis affects the shoulder part where the athletes experience pain when they lift their arms above their heads. The athletes must rest, use ice, and NSAID and some strengths and flexibility exercises.
  • Chondromalacia Patella affects the knee part of the body where there is pain when they bend their knees, performing full squats or sitting for longer perod of time with their knees bent. The athletes must rest, apply ice, and take NSAID and do weight training programs to recover strength in their inner quads.
  • Illiotibial Band Friction or ITBF Syndrome where the athletes feel pain just outside their knees or lower thighs. The athletes should rest, use ice, and a gentle stretching of the IT band and gluteal muscles and wearing of proper training shoes.
  • Shin Splints occur when the athletes feel pain along the bones of their lower leg part. The athletes are advised to rest, apply ice, and take NSAID, and perform a slow training and do away with running to hard surfaces until the injuries are healed.
  • Plantar Fasciities affects the heels and the bottom of the feet. The athletes will experience pain in those areas during the first few steps every morning and succeeding periods of inactivity. The athletes are recommended to rest, use ice, and do some massaging and stretching of the plantar fascia area. Some particular exercises can be performed to strengthen these areas.
  • Achilles Tendinitis happens when the athletes feel pain in the heels and tightened calf muscles. The athletes must rest, apply ice, and take NSAID and stretching exercises of the calves and thighs.

Diet Tips for Athletes

by
No comments yet

Healthy nutrition is essential for athletes who are into some extreme physical activities. A balanced and healthy diet with the right proportions of carbs, proteins, and fats will give athletes the much-needed energy and endurance to athletes. Endurance athletes need to have enough intake of variety of foods for better and enhanced usage of glycogen stores and better performance.

Whether you are a young or old athlete, or a school or community athlete, or a neophyte or elite athlete, here are some useful diet tips for you:

On Carbohydrates:

  • Take carbohydrates because it is your main source of energy and are transformed into glucose which are stored in the muscles in the form of glycogen, so that when you exercise your body will convert glycogen into energy. Exercising for less than 90 minutes can fuel your extreme high-intensity activity through the day.
  • To get the optimum carbohydrate storage, health experts suggest following a diet that gets for about 70% of the calories from the carbohydrates that includes the fruits and vegetables, pasta, breads, and cereals.
  • On the big event, you must eat your last three meals four hours before exercising to give your stomach time to empty itself.
  • Do away with sugary and starchy foods within 30 minutes before any physical activity. Remember that metabolizing carbohydrates utilizes water which can speed up dehydration.
  • For physical activities that can last for more than 90 minutes, it is essential to replenish carbohydrates, water, and minerals during the exercises. Health experts even suggest a snack and fluid every 15 minutes. Some athletes choose sports bars, gels, or sports drinks because of the convenience these can give them. We recommend fruits or fruit juice.

On Proteins:

  • Remember that protein is not a main source of energy but it is essential to maintain good muscle tissues. An athlete may need up to about 1.7 grams for each kilogram of body weight and that is for about 150 grams of protein for a 200-pounder athlete.
  • Joy Dubost, RD, says that milk is one of the best foods to recover from an extreme physical activity because it supplies you with a good balance of proteins and carbohydrates. Milk has casein and whey protein where whey protein is easily absorbed into the body while casein is digested slowly to ensure a long-term recovery of muscles after an extreme physical activity. We all know that milk is packed with calcium which is good to maintain stronger bones. But too much protein can be stressful for the kidneys so instead of taking supplements, Dubost recommends eating quality protein like fish, milk, nuts, lean meats, eggs, and poultry.

On Fats:

  • For longer physical events like marathon, the body turns to the fats for endurance and energy when carbohydrates reach its low level. We recommend, therefore, to eat unsaturated fats from avocados, vegetable oils, nuts, fatty fish, and olives. But avoid these fatty foods during the big event because they can strain the stomach.

On Taking Fluids:

  • Extreme exercises and physical activities, especially during summer, can dehydrate you easily, and as a result will affect your performance and worst, can become life-threatening. Josua Evans, MD, suggests monitoring the color of your urine. A pale yellow means that you have enough fluid but bright yellow or dark urine means that you are getting short of fluids in the body.
  • It is recommended that for extreme and longer period of activities like marathon runners, you have to take for about 8 to 12 ounces of fluid for every 10 minutes during the event. Drink chilled fluids because they are absorbed easily compared to room-temperature water.

On the Lost Electrolytes:

  • Sweating can cause loss of body fluids and electrolytes. Electrolytes help in the transmission of nerve signals into your body. To replenish the lost electrolytes, health experts recommend diluting sports drinks with same amount or quantity of water to have the best balance of fluids and electrolytes.

 

Present Age Children Prefers Indoor Games

by
No comments yet

Research and studies have shown that the nature of an American childhood has transformed very rapidly. The free and unstructured outdoor childhood life, the days of pick-up baseball games, the tree houses, and the “be home for dinner” have all but history. Today, one has to push children to go outside.

Present day, childhood is spent indoors, playing video games, working on something in the internet, and watching TV. There are still times when children go outside for some scheduled community events like football camp or a fishing activity but are under the careful watch of parents or adults.

The change to indoor past times of childhood has increased within the same century and big decrease in spontaneous outdoor activities like swimming and biking. Surveys and studies showed that biking has dropped by 30% since 1995. A survey made by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that a child tends to prefer to play a video game instead of riding a bike. Some children see video games are more fun than skateboarding.

The change can be seen through the bodies of the children. CDC states that in 1960, 4% of the children were obese but presently, 16% of the children are overweight or obese.

It can also be observed in the children’s “brains”. Studies also show that the children who use most of their times in outdoor activities have longer attention span compared to children who, most of the time, watch TV and play video games.

The attraction of the children to television and video games is not the only thing that is keeping them indoors. Parents now are afraid of allowing their children wander in heavy traffics and with news and reports of pedophiles and missing children. Another study showed that there is a 40% drop in birth rate since 1960 which means that there is smaller number of children to wander around the neighborhood. Air conditioning units mean that children do not have to go to local pool or swimming pools to cool off.

Richard Louv, an author, observes that the boundaries of the children in the past were by the miles or blocks but now, their boundaries are their front yards. He further said that many children are now “under house arrest”. He says that parents now are afraid of letting their children go climb a tree or hike alone in the woods and believe that their children are safer in front of the “Xbox” in their rooms.

In the past, children’s games tended to be open-minded and following whatever game or adventure that come up in their minds However, parents and children today choose the structured entertainment such as video games.

Well, many parents are not also happy with the way their children are doing but they, themselves, are not sure what to do.

Darrell Mueller, a father, spent his childhood days outside playing balls and riding his bike but boticed that his children are different. They choose to be driven to their school which is just two houses away. His daughter thinks that test messaging her friends who are just across the street is more fun than going to their houses. His son spends the whole day playing Warcraft game from with people globally and when he announced that his team was on top ranking of the game, Darrell did not know whether to congratulate his son or worry about what it really mean.

It was time for the Howell family is heading to go home from Spring Lake. Dakota Howell announced that he wanted to be an archeologist because he want to get his fingers dirty. But John who was carrying fishing rods smiled and said,”Now, we’re going home to play video games”.