Partaking in various forms of exercise is a great way to stay fit and healthy. By improving your well being through exercise regimens you increase your chances of living a longer and more fulfilled life. But what happens if you are doing exercise the wrong way?
Performing exercises wrongly can have the effect of hurting you and causing debilitating pain that nullifies all the positive effects of your fitness program. Exercises being done wrongly is rarely intentional and is usually caused by using the wrong equipment, lack of proper information or guidance, or going through a particular fitness regimen in the wrong manner such as by overdoing it.
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Examples of ways doing the right exercise the wrong way can hurt you include:
- Straining your back: This is the most popular injury that’s often witnessed among people trying to get fit. The reason why this injury is so common is because most individuals due to their lifestyles have weak back muscles and not much strength in their lower back. Unaware of this fact, many people partake in exercises that task their weak backs which then give out under the strain that it is unaccustomed to. The best way to avoid falling prey to such an incident is to lift weights with your legs rather than your back, and also gradually build your back muscles with the proper exercise.
- Straining your shoulder: This sort of injury is more prevalent in people more focused in chest and arm muscle building exercises. The joints in your shoulder make it possible for your arms to swing in various directions and thus avoid certain injuries brought on by excessively stressing your arms or exercising with a faulty technique or equipment. But ignoring your body’s warning signs and pushing on with a wrong exercise technique or equipment can lead to a shoulder dislocation, a damaged rotator cuff, or a torn muscle.
Experts such as Tricity Pain Associates always warn fitness enthusiasts to never ignore unusual pain by pushing through it. This is because pain is your body’s way of warning you of an impending injury. Instead, try strengthening your shoulders with elastic tube resistance training, or shoulder presses before moving on to more intense exercises.
- Anterior Cruciate Ligament and Posterior Cruciate Ligament injuries: This sort of injury is more common among athletes and people who partake in sports or exercises that involve lots of jumping or movements with rapid change in direction such as basketball. Worst case scenario of this sort of injury might require surgery to repair the torn knee ligament, and intense physiotherapy to ensure a full recovery.
- Runner’s knee: This is brought on by an irritation of the cartilage located beneath your kneecap. As the name implies, the injury is quite common among joggers and runners.
- Pulling or tearing the hamstring: This painful injury is brought on by excessively straining leg muscles that are either weak, imbalanced, or overly tight. It can be prevented by properly stretching before using the leg muscles and performing exercises to build up overall leg strength.
The best way to avoid falling prey to any of these injuries that can make your life very uncomfortable is by doing the following:
- Giving your body enough time to recover in between exercise regimens. Overly strained muscles, bones, tendons, and ligaments are bound to eventually give out if you don’t let them properly rest and recuperate.
- Endeavour to always use proper exercise equipment and techniques. Equipment and technique most suited to your capability is what you should use.
- Stretch well before any exercise and work towards building yourself gradually. It’s impossible to attain your fitness goals overnight. So rather than try to rush things by pushing too hard, work slowly knowing you are safely on track towards your fitness goals.