Baby Boomers Sports And Gym Injury Risks|avoid Over 40s Exercise Injuries
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| Baby Boomers Sports And Gym Injury Risks|avoid Over 40s Exercise Injuries |
Due
to health care education, more people, who are over forty, those born in 1946
to 1964, commonly known as the baby boomers, are realizing the benefits of
taking up sports or exercising in a gym.
This
is well and good since exercising regularly severely cut the risks of
contracting aging and obesity related potentially killer diseases such as
diabetes, heart diseases, stroke, some forms of cancers and many other
diseases.
It
is indeed heartening to know that more baby boomers are taking charge of their
health through regularly exercise to improve their cardiovascular health thus
becoming fitter and stronger. However, with more middle aged people exercising
and playing some form of sports, instances of injuries sustained from these
activities have risen substantially.
In
the United States, these gym or sports injuries have become the number 2 reason
for people visiting the doctor’s office just behind the common cold, reported
by the National Ambulatory Medical Care in 2003.
A
Consumer Product Safety Commission research in 1998 found that sports related
injuries to baby boomers had risen by 33 percent since 1991 and contributed to
US$18.7 billion in medical costs.
Outdoor
sports such as tennis, jogging and golf are very popular with people over
forties. Not to be outdone, the more body conscious over forties baby boomers
are also joining gym memberships in the multitudes.
Gyms
all over the developed world are happily reporting booming new memberships year
after year with a large pool of their members being the over forty baby boomers
brigade, male or female baby boomers irrespective.
As
baby boomers get older, their susceptibility to sports injuries rise proportionately.
As people age, their body degenerate along with the aging process, although
exercising regularly is known to slow down this very degeneration process.
This
is particularly so for the risky weekend warriors who take to the running
tracks or lifting weights to build their body with gusto during the weekend
putting their aging bodies and joints to sudden busts of unaccustomed stressful
activities, causing damages to their own bodies unknowingly.
What
are the common baby boomer’s sports injuries? How to avoid them?
• Shoulder injuries – Common for those
playing squash, tennis, badminton and lifting weights in the gym using wrong
form and techniques.
• Elbow injuries – People who play racket
games and bodybuilders.
• Back injuries – A very common occurrence
in the gym amongst baby boomer bodybuilder wannabes. Also a common injury for
golfers who often have to swing their spine.
• Knee injuries – For baby boomers who
participate in sports with sudden movements and changes of directions such as
squash and soccer.
•Ankle injuries - Usually striking the
runners and joggers of long distances.
How
to avoid the risks of sports injuries for the over forties?
This
is largely common sense which most people know but few do it regularly as part
of their exercise routine in so doing, risking injuries which can be avoided.
• Thorough warm of the muscles and joints
which will be involved in the exercise or sport.
• Stretching adequately and correctly. Many
people stretch in the wrong manner which then may cause even more injuries.
• Take the exercises or sports one step at
a time, then as endurance and strength build up over time, you can then
increase the intensity of the sport or the exercise.
• Exercise regularly. Not just over the
weekend. Your body may not be able to cope with the sudden outburst each
weekend.
• Hire a sports personal trainer who can
tailor an exercise program suitable to your health condition and guide you
safely through the exercises.
