Archive for February, 2008

How Much Time or How Long is Needed for Fitness and Exercise

There are 1,440 minutes in every day. Could spare 30 of them for a fitness activity! You really can’t afford not to give this time.

Regular exercise is a critical part of staying healthy. People who are active live longer and feel better. Exercise can help you maintain a healthy weight. It can delay or prevent diabetes, some cancers and heart problems.

Most adults need at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity at least five days per week. Examples include walking briskly, mowing the lawn, dancing, swimming for recreation or bicycling. Stretching and weight training can also strengthen your body and improve your fitness level.

The key is to find the right fitness and exercise program for you. If it is fun, you are more likely to stay motivated. You may want to walk with a friend, join a class or plan a group bike ride.

If you’ve been inactive for awhile, use a sensible approach and start out slowly.

Take a pie and divide it in 48 different slices, or slivers is more like it. Get that picture. Commit a sliver of your time to fitness – that’s it!

About Sports Injuries: How, Type of Pain and What to Do

Sports injuries will happen while playing sports or exercising. Fear of this happening should NEVER be an excuse not to “get” yourself moving.

Movement, in whatever way, has proven to be extremely valuable to your overall health condition. Get going, but keep the following in your mind.

The short list of usual causes of the sport type injury are:

  • accidents
  • poor training practices
  • failing to adequately “warm up”
  • use of improper gear/equipment
  • lack of condition for the particular sport

The most common sports injuries are:

The two types of sports injuries are acute and chronic. Acute injuries occur suddenly during play or exercise. How you know you’ve experience an acute injury is by experiencing:

  • swelling
  • sudden & severe pain
  • painful weight bearing
  • very tender to the touch
  • restrictive joint movement
  • weakness and/or the injury is visibly obvious

In contrast, how chronic injuries tend to happen is after repetitive sports play or exercise for a prolonged time period, and then you experience pain with continuation of the sport play or exercise, or you experience a dull ache/swelling after you stop.

What you should do when you first feel pain is to stop. Next, follow the RICE method to:

  • relieve pain
  • speed healing
  • reduce inflammation

(Unless, of course, you have a visibly obvious injury that is in need immediate medical repair.)

Here are the four steps to follow right after injury occurs and continue for at least the next 48 hours:

  • Rest ~ immobilize and keep weight bearing to injured area at a minimum
  • Ice ~ 20 minutes, four to eight times a day
  • Compression ~ even pressure on injured area to minimize swelling
  • Elevation ~ injured area at a level above your heart to minimize swelling

Protect the area from further injury by using a brace or support during rehabilitation wherever possible.

You may need medical attention if you have:

  • swelling
  • numbness
  • severe pain
  • the area feels abnormally unstable

If in doubt, have it checked out!

Anti-inflammatory drugs, such as aspirin, ibuprofen, ketoprofen, or naproxen sodium, are good compliments to the RICE swelling and pain reduction method.

And the final step to sports injury “what to do” program is rehabilitation. Moving the injured area helps it to heal, so the sooner the better. What this means is to gently start moving it through a range of motions, next is stretching, and finally add weight.

The time to start playing again is when you can stretch the injured area without pain, swelling or stiffness.

Never lose sight of the fact that all injuries need time to heal. Rest helps that process, so keep a proper balance between rest and rehabilitation.

Other common therapies that help with the healing process include:

  • massage
  • sound waves (ultrasound)
  • mild electrical currents (electrostimulation)
  • heat packs or heating pads (thermotherapy)

An MP3 is a great source of mental entertainment if what you do for sport/exercise is a solo type activity.

Tendinitis and Bursitis Causes of Painful Inflammation Symptoms for Treatment

Tendinitis and bursitis are conditions involving soft tissue inflammation around muscles and bones. They most often flare up in your shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee, or ankle joints.

Tendinitis and bursitis are different in that one involves a tendon and the later a bursa.

Tendinitis is inflammation of a tendon. Your tendons are flexible bands of fibrous tissue that connects muscles to bones. They play a vital role in the muscles cause for movement.

The location of the tendon inflammation is what makes the difference in if pain is involved with a given type of movement. This why you may only feel pain when moving a joint in a certain way.

Bursitis is the pain felt when your bursa is inflamed. Your bursae are the cushioning fluid-filled sacs between bones and other moving parts, such as muscles, tendons or skin.

Inflammation is an increased fluid in these bursae, located throughout your body. You will experience palpable pain and tenderness right in the bursitis inflicted joint area.

Tendinitis and bursitis are considered chronic, or in another word continual. Pain and inflammation reduction treatment include rest, compression, elevation, heat and anti-inflammatory medicines. Limiting you activity involving the affected joint is recommended to help in healing and further injury prevention.

Some lifestyle routines to help prevent tendinitis or bursitis include:

  • cushion the affected joint
  • don’t sit still for long periods
  • strengthen muscles around the joint
  • warm up or stretch before physical activity
  • take breaks from repetitive tasks regularly and often
  • practice good posture & position the body properly when going about daily activities
  • approach new activities or exercise regimens slowly by gradually increasing physical demands

As always, prevent the preventable, and your knowing the difference between tendinitis and bursitis helps discover which lifestyle routines need adjustment.

What is Trochanteric (Hip) Bursitis and Its Pain and Tenderness Treatment

Trochanteric Bursitis is inflammation of the bursa that covers your pointed hip bone, called the trochanter.

Bursa is a jelly-like sac that cushions and protects all your major friction producing joints in your body.

A bursa’s inflammation produces pain and tenderness, that can result in limiting your ability to move your hip joint, and this situation makes walking very difficult.

Bursitis is commonly caused by overuse or direct trauma to a joint. However, arthritis or gout may also be the cause of your bursitis induced painful hip.

Bursitis is usually treated with rest, >ice, along with pain and swelling relievers, such as aspirin or ibuprofen.

When rest, ice and pain relief medicines don’t work, there are additional pain relief treatment options. These other treatments include ultrasound, physical therapy and steroid injections. And your last resort would be hip bursa removal surgery.

Stretching and strengthening your surrounding hip muscles is an important preventative measure. For those doing repetitive tasks that requires hip movement, routine periodic rest of this joint is vital.

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