It’s the time of year when we look forward to enjoying our beautiful outdoors again and begin to get more active. Whether recreationally or competitively, lightly or intensely, we ought to be mindful as to how to avoid injuries.

Because many injuries are avoidable! We have all found ourselves injured and missing out at various points of our lives. It’s frustrating! Especially with only a few short months of summer weather!

What are some of the most common injuries? Sprained ankles, shin splints, IT band syndrome, pulled muscles in the groin or hamstrings, tennis elbow, shoulder injury, ACL tears, hip flexor strains, and concussions.

First, the easy question – why avoid injuries?

– To avoid more serious injuries – have you ever had a moment where you know you were lucky to have avoided an injury despite a scary incident? Let’s aim for more of these “near-misses, and fewer actual injuries! (raise the threshold over which we actually are injured)

-Sometimes injuries happen anyway, and can be unavoidable. The stronger our joints, ligaments, and tendons are, the better we can limit the severity of injuries that do come up.

– To quickly, easily and strongly recover from injury should they occur.  Recovery from even unavoidable injuries can be vastly different when the body is strengthened and optimized prior to the injury.

Second, what can we do to strengthen our body to prevent injury?

– Immobility and inactivity weaken the biological properties of the tissue, making them more susceptible to injury.  Therefore, movement or light exercise, even just for a few minutes daily, will help to build resilience and strengthen our bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments.

– Develop an exercise routine that includes cardiovascular training, strength training, and stretching for flexibility.

– Eat healthy to keep inflammation down.  Inflammation weakens tissues and increases the risk of injury.

– Proper nourishment to maintain strong joints and quickly recover from activities that lead to micro-traumas in our tissues.

– Avoid: too much, too often, too quickly, with too little rest – our body needs to recover and heal!

Lastly, what can be done when injuries do happen?

– Treatment with restorative therapies is important to bring full recovery and strength to the injured area.  Regenerative therapies such as prolotherapy and platelet rich plasma are fantastic options.

-Quickly replenish deficiencies and nourish the body with Intravenous Nutrient Therapy.  The customized bag of nutrients can be incredibly helpful to overcome inflammation, manage pain and get you back onto the road to recovery.

– Get yourself on the best recovery plan by speaking with one of our Naturopathic Doctors.  They are best trained to support the body’s natural healing process and can help optimize recovery and future performance.