Safe Exercise

When people begin a new exercise program, they often push their bodies too far and put themselves at risk for injury. The common notion that exercise must be really hard or painful to be beneficial is simply wrong. Moderation is the key to safe exercise. Safe exercise programs start slowly and gradually build up in intensity, frequency, and duration. 

In addition, if you have an existing health problem, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, a history of heart disease, or are a smoker, you should contact your doctor before beginning any vigorous physical activity. 

Safe Exercise Guideline:

Use Proper Equipment:
Replace your athletic shoes as they wear out. Wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothes that let you move freely and are light enough to release body heat. When exercising in cold weather, dress in removable layers. 

Balanced fitness:
Develop a balanced fitness program that incorporates cardiovascular exercise, strength training, and flexibility. In addition to providing a total body workout, a balanced program will keep you from getting bored and lessen your chances of injury. 

Warm Up:
Warm up to prepare to exercise, even before stretching. Run in place for a few minutes, breathe slowly and deeply, or gently rehearse the motions of the exercise to follow. Warming up increases your heart and blood flow rates and loosens up other muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints. 

Stretch:
Begin stretches slowly and carefully until reaching a point of muscle tension. Hold each stretch for 10 to 20 seconds, then slowly and carefully release it. Inhale before each stretch and exhale as you release. Do each stretch only once. Never stretch to the point of pain, always maintain control, and never bounce on a muscle that is fully stretched. 

Take Your Time:
During strength training, move through the full range of motion with each repetition. Breathe regularly to help lower your blood pressure and increase blood supply to the brain. 

Drink Water:
Drink enough water to prevent dehydration, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. Drink 1 pint of water 15 minutes before you start exercising and another pint after you cool down. Have a drink of water every 20 minutes or so while you exercise. 

Cool Down:
Make cooling down the final phase of your exercise routine. It should take twice as long as your warm up. Slow your motions and lessen the intensity of your movements for at least 10 minutes before you stop completely. This phase of a safe exercise program should conclude when your skin is dry and you have cooled down. 

Rest:
Schedule regular days off from exercise and rest when tired. Fatigue and pain are good reasons to not exercise. 

Common Sports Injuries 

Overuse Injuries 
Exercise puts repetitive stress on many parts of the body such as muscles, tendons, bursae, cartilage, bones, and nerves. Repetitive stress can leads to microtraumas — minor injuries that would typically heal with enough rest. When you exercise too frequently, your body never has a chance to repair these microtraumas. As microtraumas build up over time, you become prone to overuse injuries, such as:

• Damage to elbow cartilage in athletes who throw
• Heel bursitis and stress fractures in runners
• Nerve entrapment in rowers
• Kneecap (patellar) tendinitis in volleyball players

Traumatic Injuries  
To build strength and endurance from exercise, you must slowly and gradually push your body beyond its limits. When you push too far too fast, the body is prone to traumatic injuries such as sprains and fractures. 

Many seasonal sports injuries happen when athletes rush their reconditioning and do too much too soon with bones, joints, tendons, ligaments, and muscles they ignored in the off-season. 
  
Risk Factors 
There are many risk factors that make injury during exercise more likely.

• The duration, intensity or frequency of an exercise is excessive or rapidly increasing.
• The terrain or weather conditions are extreme or irregular.
• You use incorrect equipment, such as athletic shoes that are not designed for your activity.
• You have been injured in the past.
• You smoke or have led a sedentary lifestyle.
• You have low aerobic or muscle endurance, low or imbalanced strength, or abnormal or imbalanced flexibility.
• You have underlying musculoskeletal conditions that predispose you to injury, such as bowed legs or high arches in your feet.

First Aid
Accidents can happen despite safe exercise precautions. If you pull a muscle (or worse) during exercise, apply a protective device such as a sling, splint, or brace. Then use the first aid standard for musculoskeletal injures: rest, ice, compression, and elevation (RICE). 

• Rest the injury.
• Ice it to lessen swelling, bleeding, and inflammation.
• Apply a compression bandage to limit swelling.
• Elevate the injury above heart level to reduce swelling.

You may use nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen for pain. See your doctor if you have severe pain, cannot move the injured body part, or if symptoms persist. 

TRADITIONAL YOGA vs YOGA THERAPY

Many people wonder what the difference is between Yoga and Yoga Therapy, and which one is right for them. Here are the highlights of what Yoga Therapy is, what its benefits are, and how yoga therapy differs from traditional Yoga Asana classes.

Basically, Yoga Therapy uses the ancient science of yoga to enhance health and wellness at all levels of the person: physical, emotional, and spiritual. 

Yoga Therapy focuses on the path of yoga as a healing journey that brings balance to all aspects of life through an experiential awakening of our essential nature.  

Yoga therapy is useful both for people who seek relief for specific health challenges, as well as for people who want to enjoy good health, prevent disease, and slow the progression of aging.

Yoga therapy is based on a view of the individual as a wholeness. For true health to occur, all aspects of a person must be addressed as a whole. Many forms of yoga therapy, such as Integrative Yoga Therapy, use the ancient Vedic model of the Five Koshas as a framework for creating holistic healing and transformation.

In yoga therapy, the tools and techniques of yoga serve to reconnect each client to him or herself at all levels—from the physical body to the breath, the energetic body, mind and emotions, the higher wisdom faculty, and to the spirit. 

Some of the main ways in which yoga therapy differs from yoga are:

• Yoga therapy works with your goals:
Each session is tailored to your needs, whether you want to gain relief from chronic pain, facilitate injury recovery, improve flexibility, reduce stress, improve well-being, get help with depression, or simply retain your youthful appearance and energy.

• Yoga therapy targets the practice to specific   
disease condition:
Most disease conditions benefit from some yoga asanas or yoga breathing techniques and not others. A yoga therapy program for back pain, for example, would be very different from a yoga therapy practice targeting depression. Some yoga therapists specialize mainly in one disease condition, while others have a more broad focus.

• Yoga therapy adjusts the poses to your body's needs:
A yoga therapist shows you how to modify and adjust poses to your body’s specific needs, using props, modifications, and alignment assists.  This ensures that you get the full benefits from each pose.




• Yoga therapy uses adjunct techniques to speed your progress:

When called for, some yoga therapists may use deep tissue massage and fascia release work while you are in the pose to release tight muscle groups and facilitate a deeper core awakening.

• Yoga therapy deepens body awareness:
Yoga therapy is offered in individual sessions or small classes, enabling the therapist to guide you in the fine subtleties of muscle relaxation, stretching, and strengthening. This increases body awareness and helps you make more rapid progress in reshaping your body.

WHAT DO WE DO WHEN WE FEEL PAIN?

WHICH PAIN IS REAL? WHAT DO WE DO WHEN WE FEEL PAIN?

Now, it’s not that the pain we feel is not there. It is....But pain that signals actual danger is different than a pain pathway that has been built and continues to be triggered even when no injury or reason for it remains.

How do we tell the difference?
The first thing is don’t believe everything you feel, every thought you have, and every emotion that is felt. I don’t say this for you to become a cynic or untrusting. Quite the opposite. 

We are here to build absolute confidence in your ability to know what is "real" and what isn’t. I say this because it invites listening and exploration. If you don’t believe everything that happens you have to find out what is true. 

In order for you to be able to determine "real" pain from conditioned pain we must have an interest in listening and exploring to see what is there. So let’s explore pain…

If a voice inside pops up and says "I don’t think you should do that" and it’s not your usual chatty self. It just pops up to your surprise… this is probably your body letting you know you are not ready. There is a "real" vulnerability. But, if this voice is your usual inside chatty voice that tells you over and over "I can’t" or "I should be able to" or "watch out" this probably is a learned response. Likely something to be explored to see if it is true.

STEP ONE:
The first skill you will need to learn is to listen to what’s going on in your head, your body, and your heart. May sound easy, and in a way it is, but we are conditioned to get lost in the things we usually think about, the emotions that usually come with the thoughts we keep having, and lost in sensations that arise from stress and the ways we experience life. If you give yourself time to listen, and find yourself lost in the usual things you think about without even noticing how you got there…that’s o.k. if this happens. Be really kind to yourself if this happens when you try to listen. Just keep re-committing to be there, to seeing what’s there, to listening.

Some people like to come back to feeling their breath when they realize they have gotten lost. If this helps, then do so. Our agenda is just to take time to slow down and listen to who’s there and if we get lost along the way our job is to extend kindness and support to that person. 

No matter what....We are not condoning any kind of behaviour or thought… just allowing whatever is there to be heard and supported with kindness. So to clarify, I am not asking you to stop thinking… to be in what people misinterpret as what must happen when you meditate "properly". I am asking you to be very present or conscious of your thoughts, emotions, and sensations as they happen.  Just sit back and relax and have a listen.

See if you can start each day, or whatever timing makes sense, with the intention of having 5 minutes a day to listen. You don’t have to actually do it. Just the intention.  Make it really clear why you have this intention. For example "Because I know I have pain everyday…I value ease and comfort so much that even though I don’t yet know how this listening practice will help bring ease and comfort, I want to find out if this can help me". Or whatever your words are. Eventually once you find this intention is part of your daily life, it is top of mind, you will see the opportunities to act.

FITNESS FOR YOUR HEALTHLY LIVING

Benefits of physical fitness

Why it's worth your time and effort to become fit

Just as it’s hard to put a value on your time, it’s also hard to overstate the benefits of physical fitness. Your well being affects your decisions, activities, opportunities, relationships...nearly every part of your life. 

Personal health and fitness directly relates to your quality of life. 

Do you feel like there’s too much work ahead of you to become physically fit? If you are new to exercise or 'out of shape', you actually have an advantage. 

Though it may be tough at first, be consistent with exercise, and your body will adapt to these new physical activities. You will make progress every week, and your quality of life will change fairly quickly, usually within a month’s time. 

Increased muscular strength will make it easier to lift children or groceries.

A lower body fat percentage will show in the mirror.

Weight loss and improved endurance will help you climb stairs with much less effort.

Health benefits last for a lifetime.

Do you like the idea of these changes? Stay active for a lifetime and you’ll enhance your health as well. Your own benefits of physical fitness will include a significantly reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, death from all causes, diabetes, and osteoporosis . Add good nutrition to an active lifestyle and you'll have a powerful combination for good health and fitness.

It's simply too risky to be out of shape.

The health risks below were found in the lowest 1/3 in each age group for cardiovascular fitness......of the studies above were done with women only, so the percent risk may vary for men. 

Exercise, or TV time?

Lack of physical activity tends to make people feel sluggish, and when you combine that with mental fatigue from a long day at work or school, it's natural to want to rest in front of the TV at the end of the day. 

But studies show that diabetes and obesity are linked with TV time. While watching TV or video content (i. e. video on internet), we burn no more energy than we do at complete rest, and we’re also bombarded with fast food commercials compelling us to eat! So even in those who are otherwise physically active, excessive TV time may pose a health risk.

Researchers recommend less than 10 hours of TV per week. They estimate that 30% of new obesity cases and 43% of new diabetes cases can be prevented through watching less than 10 hours of TV / week and walking briskly 30 minutes per day. 

The average American watches over 35 hours of video content per week . Perhaps what we really need is just a change of pace...walk the dog, play with your kids, work in the yard, go to a park....when they are part of a consistent routine, those kinds of activities are easy ways to realize the benefits of physical fitness. 

Home Treatment For Knee Problems and Injuries

Home treatment may help relieve pain, swelling, and stiffness. 

**Rest:and protect an injured or sore area. Stop, change, or 
   take a break from any activity that may be causing your 
   pain or soreness. When resting, place a small pillow   
   under  your knee.
**Ice: will reduce pain and swelling. Apply ice or cold packs 
   immediately to prevent or minimize swelling. Apply the ice 
   or cold pack for 10 to 20 minutes, 3 or more times a day. 

For the first 48 hours after an injury, avoid things that might increase swelling, such as hot showers, hot tubs, hot packs, or alcoholic beverages.

After 48 to 72 hours, if swelling is gone, apply heat and begin gentle exercise with the aid of moist heat to help restore and maintain flexibility. Some experts recommend alternating between heat and cold treatments. 

Compression, or wrapping the injured or sore area with an elastic bandage (such as an Ace wrap), will help decrease swelling.

• Don't wrap it too tightly, since this can cause more swelling below the affected area. Loosen the bandage if it gets too tight. Signs that the bandage is too tight include numbness, tingling, increased pain, coolness, or swelling in the area below the bandage.
•  Don't expect the bandage to protect or stabilize a knee     injury. 
• Talk to your doctor if you think you need to use a wrap for longer than 48 to 72 hours. A more serious problem may be present.  

Elevate, the injured or sore area on pillows while applying ice and anytime you are sitting or lying down. Try to keep the area at or above the level of your heart to help minimize swelling.

Reduce stress on your sore knee (until you can get advice from your doctor):

• Use a cane or crutch in the hand opposite your painful knee.  

• Use two crutches, keeping weight off the leg with the sore knee. You can get canes or crutches from most pharmacies. Crutches are recommended if a cane causes you to walk with a limp. Gently massage or rub the area to relieve pain and encourage blood flow. Do not massage the injured area if it causes pain.

Try the following exercises to maintain flexibility:

• Hamstring stretch Hamstring stretch in doorway

• Lie on your back in a doorway, with one leg through the open door.

• Slide your leg up the wall to straighten your knee. You should feel a gentle stretch down the back of your leg. Hold the stretch for at least 1 minute. As the days go by, add a little more time until you can relax and let these muscles stretch for as much as 6 minutes for each leg.
  • Do not arch your back.
  • Do not bend either knee.
  • Keep one heel touching the floor and the other heel touching the wall. Do not point your toes.
• Repeat with your other leg.
• Do 2 to 4 times for each leg.

If you do not have a place to do this exercise in a doorway, there is another way to do it:

• Lie on your back and bend the knee of the leg you want to stretch.
• Loop a towel under the ball and toes of that foot, and hold the ends of the towel in your hands.
• Straighten your knee and slowly pull back on the towel. You should feel a gentle stretch down the back of your leg. It is hard to hold this stretch with a towel for a long time, but hold the stretch for at least 15 to 30 seconds. One minute or more is even better.
• Repeat with your other leg.
• Do 2 to 4 times for each leg.

 Knee-to-chest exercise

•  

Do not do the knee-to-chest exercise if it causes or increases back or leg pain.

• Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor.
• Bring one knee to your chest, keeping the other foot flat on the floor (or the other leg straight, whichever feels better on your lower back). Keep your lower back pressed to the floor. Hold for at least 15 to 30 seconds.
• Relax and lower the knee to the starting position. Repeat with the other leg.
• Repeat 2 to 4 times with each leg.
• To get more stretch, put your other leg flat on the floor while pulling your knee to your chest.
• Avoid high-impact exercise, such as running, skiing, snowboarding, or playing tennis, until your knee is no longer painful or swollen.

Medicine you can buy without a prescription

Try a nonprescription medicine to help treat your fever or pain:

Acetaminophen, such as Tylenol Note: Do not use a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicine, such as ibuprofen or aspirin, for the first 24 hours after an injury. Using these medicines may increase the time it takes your blood to clot and cause more severe bruising from bleeding under the skin. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs): Ibuprofen, such as Advil or Motrin Naproxen, such as Aleve or Naprosyn Aspirin (also a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug), such as Bayer or Bufferin Talk to your child?s doctor before switching back and forth between doses of acetaminophen and ibuprofen. When you switch between two medicines, there is a chance your child will get too much medicine.

Safety tips

Be sure to follow these safety tips when you use a nonprescription medicine:

Carefully read and follow all directions on the medicine bottle and box. Do not take more than the recommended dose. Do not take a medicine if you have had an allergic reaction to it in the past. If you have been told to avoid a medicine, call your doctor before you take it. If you are or could be pregnant, do not take any medicine other than acetaminophen unless your doctor has told you to. Do not give aspirin to anyone younger than age 20 unless your doctor tells you to.

Symptoms to watch for during home treatment
Call your doctor if any of the following occur during home treatment:

• Signs of infection develop.
• Numbness, tingling, or weakness develops.
• Your knee, lower leg, or foot becomes pale or cool or looks blue.
• Symptoms do not improve with home treatment.
• Symptoms become more severe or frequent.

Health Problems Caused by Extreme Exercise and Dieting

Sports and exercise are healthy activities for girls and women of all ages. Occasionally, a female athlete who focuses on being thin or lightweight may eat too little or exercise too much. Doing this can cause long-term damage to health, or even death. It can also hurt athletic performance or make it necessary to limit or stop exercise.

Three interrelated illnesses may develop when a girl or young woman goes to extremes in dieting or exercise. Together, these conditions are known as the "female athletic triad."

The three conditions are:

• Disordered eating
  Abnormal eating habits (i.e., crash diets, binge eating) or excessive exercise keeps the body from getting enough nutrition.
• Menstrual dysfunction
  Poor nutrition, low calorie intake, high-energy demands, physical and emotional stress, or low percentage of body fat can lead to hormonal changes that stop menstrual periods (amenorrhea).

• Premature osteoporosis (low bone density for age)
  Lack of periods disrupts the body's bone-building processes and weakens the skeleton, making bones more likely to break.

Females at Risk:
Females in any sport can develop one or more parts of the triad. At greatest risk are those in sports that reward being thin for appearance (such as figure skating or gymnastics) or improved performance (such as distance running or rowing).
Fashion trends and advertising often encourage women to try to reach unhealthy weight levels. Some female athletes suffer low self-esteem or depression, and may focus on weight loss because they think they are heavier than they actually are. Others feel pressure to lose weight from athletic coaches or parents.

Female athletes should consider these questions:

• Are you dissatisfied with your body?
• Do you strive to be thin?
• Do you continuously focus on your weight?

If the answers are yes, you may be at risk for developing abnormal patterns of eating food (disordered eating), which can lead to menstrual dysfunction and early osteoporosis.

Female Athletic Triad:

Disordered Eating:

Although they usually do not realize or admit that they are ill, people with disordered eating have serious and complex disturbances in eating behaviors. They are preoccupied with body shape and weight and have poor nutritional habits.

Females are five to 10 times more likely to have disordered eating compared with males, and the problem is especially common in females who are athletic. The illness takes many forms. Some people starve themselves (anorexia nervosa) or engage in cycles of overeating and purging (bulimia). 

Others severely restrict the amount of food they eat, fast for prolonged periods of time or misuse diet pills, diuretics, or laxatives. People with disordered eating may also exercise excessively to keep their weight down.

Disordered eating can cause many problems, including dehydration, muscle fatigue and weakness, an erratic heartbeat, kidney damage, and other serious conditions. Not taking in enough calcium can lead to bone loss. It is especially bad to lose bone when you are a child or teenager because that is when your body should be building bone. Hormone imbalances can lead to more bone loss through menstrual dysfunction.

Menstrual Dysfunction: 

Missing three or more periods in a row is cause for concern. With normal menstruation, the body produces estrogen, a hormone that helps to keep bones strong. Without a menstrual cycle (amenorrhea), the level of estrogen may be lowered, causing a loss of bone density and strength (premature osteoporosis).

If this happens during youth, it may become a serious problem later in life when the natural process of bone mineral loss begins after menopause. Amenorrhea may also cause stress fractures. Normal menstruation is necessary for pregnancy.

Premature Osteoporosis (Low Bone Density for Age)

Bone tissue wears away, making your skeleton fragile. 

Low bone mass puts you at increased risk for fractures.

Doctor Examination:

Recognizing the female athletic triad is the first step toward treating it. See your doctor right away if you miss several menstrual periods, get a stress fracture in sports, or think you might have disordered eating.
Give the doctor your complete medical history, including:

• What you do for physical activity and what you eat for nutrition.

• How old you were when you began to menstruate and whether you usually have regular periods.

• If you are sexually active, use birth control pills, or have ever been pregnant.

• If you have ever had stress fractures or other injuries.

• Any changes (up or down) in your weight.

• Any medications you are taking or symptoms of other medical problems.

• Family history of diseases (i.e., thyroid disease, osteoporosis).

• Factors that cause stress in your life.

Your doctor will give you complete physical examination and may use laboratory tests to check for pregnancy, thyroid disease, and other medical conditions. In some cases, a bone density test will be recommended.

Treatment:
Treatment for female athletic triad often requires help from a team of medical professionals including your doctor (pediatrician, gynecologist, family physician), your athletic trainer, a nutritionist, and a psychological counselor.