With summer having officially started, more people exercise outdoors and play sports. Experts from NYU Langone’s Center for Musculoskeletal Care (CMC) are at help by providing advice on how to avoid injuries.
Laith Jazrawi, MD, associate professor at NYU Langone’s Department of Orthopedic Surgery and chief of sports medicine at the CMC states:
“The warm summer weather draws people outdoors and young athletes are also often participating in competitive sports tournaments. All these activities are important for the heart, lungs and muscles but people should remember to use some caution to avoid heat-related dangers as well as overuse injuries.”
To minimize potential injuries during the summer, Dr. Jazrawi provides the following recommendations:
Seek medical advice. Discuss plans for playing competitive athletics or exercise programs with your doctor. This is particularly important for those with existing health concerns.
Heat and hydration. Weather conditions are different in the summer. To avoid dehydration, make sure you drink fluids before, during and after exercise or playing sports to properly rehydrate your body as waiting until you are thirsty can often be too late.
Warm up and cool down. Never forget to start with a gentle warm-up, even in summer months to prepare your muscles and tendons before playing to avoid injury. Cooling down is equally important to keep your muscles subtle especially before walking into air-conditioned places.
Concussion education. Parents need to understand how to prevent untreated or misdiagnosed concussions as millions of children participate in competitive summer sports leagues. Medical experts often refer to concussions as mild traumatic brain injuries. To deal with events of concussion, parents and young athletes should learn about them, their symptoms and policies of any organized sports program for dealing with one. Someone with suspected concussion should immediately be removed from play.
Beware of overuse. Estimations by CDC state that over 5 million children under 18 sustain a sports-related injury every year of which half are due to overuse. Summer travel teams and tournaments can put pressure on young athletes to push themselves to excel and potentially over-train. A good way to minimize these injuries is to cross-train, doing alternating sports from one season to another and taking a break for a few weeks.
Written by Grace Rattue