Sport in summer

The arrival of summer invites you to enjoy outdoor activities and to practice sports, either individually such as running, swimming, playing tennis, or in a group such as playing a game of football, basketball, etc. Sport in summer without training and prior preparation can cause minor injuries such as, even fibrillar ruptures, sprains or other more important injuries.

To avoid injuries in the practice of sport in summer, different factors must be taken into account

• Staggered activity: Start the practice with an increasing pattern over time. Not wanting to do the sport of the whole year in one day.
• Equipment: Use suitable technical clothing, shoes suitable for the type of sport, sun protection.
• Warm-up: Exercising your muscles in a relaxed way for a few minutes before an intense effort. A few minutes of exercise can raise muscle temperature up to 38ºC, making the muscle more elastic, strong and resistant to injury.
• Stretching: (progressive descent until stopping exercise) can prevent dizziness and syncope. In a person who exercises vigorously and stops abruptly, the blood can remain stagnant in the dilated veins, causing dizziness and syncope. Cooling maintains increased circulation and helps remove lactic acid from the bloodstream. It does not prevent muscle pain the next day (soreness) that is caused by injuries to the muscle fibers.

Identify an injury

If even taking these precautions an injury occurs, it is important to know that there are two types of sports injuries: Acute and chronic. Acute injuries happen suddenly while playing or exercising. The most common acute injuries include ankle sprains, back strains, and broken hands. Symptoms of an acute injury include:

• • • Sudden severe pain.
    • Swelling.
    • Not being able to lean on one leg, knee, ankle, or foot.
    • Difficulties in the normal movement of a joint or limb.
    • Palpable limb or joint deformity.

Chronic injuries occur after playing sports or exercising for a long time. Symptoms of a chronic injury include:

• • pain while playing or exercising.
  • Mild pain even at rest.
  • Swelling.

What to do if an injury occurs?

pain may be the first warning sign of an injury or the onset of an injury. This is why it is important that you never try to endure the pain of a sports injury. Activity should be stopped when pain is felt. Continuing can only make the injury worse.

The initial treatment for most sports injuries is RHCE (rest, ice, compression, and elevation). The injured part must be elevated. A cold bag or filled with crushed ice (which adapts better) or cubes wrapped in a towel (never apply ice directly) should be placed on the injured part. An elastic bandage should be applied over the cold pack and around the injured part. They alternate 10 minutes with cold and 10 minutes without it, for 60-90 minutes, several times a day. If with these measures there is no improvement or there are doubts, it is best to go to the doctor.