Overuse injuries are preventable

Editor's note: Cody Scharf is the owner of Thrive Spine and Sport in Cedar Rapids, a chiropractic and soft tissue clinic focusing on sport and overuse injuries. Scharf is a graduate of Palmer College of Chiropractic and certified through Integrative Diagnosis for the diagnosis and treatment of soft tissue injuries.

This is the last of a two-part series on overuse injuries.

By Cody Scharf, community contributor

As discussed in last Sunday's article, overuse injuries affect a wide majority of people and are the cause of around two-thirds of all work related injuries and approximately half of all sports injuries.

And, although overuse is one of the most common pains, oftentimes the most common result of overuse (adhesion) can be treated and oftentimes reversed.

But what can we do to prevent overuse from happening?

To start, proper warm-up is key. Foam rolling the upper and lower body is a great place to start. If you are unfamiliar with foam rolling, do a simple YouTube search and you can find hundreds of videos showing how to do it. You also can grab a tennis ball, or lacrosse ball (my personal favorite) and use it on extra tender or painful areas (there are tons of videos that can show this, too).

These techniques are for anybody, no matter the activity level, and are a perfect place to start overuse injury prevention.

For those active in sports, make sure to use the proper equipment. For runners, that may include using the proper shoe that fits their running mechanics. For tennis players, that may include making sure their racquet is strung properly and has the proper grip size.

Making sure that you have the right equipment is just as important as making sure you have the correct technique. Hiring a coach, or checking out your work ergonomics, is vital to staying as healthy as possible.

For those individuals looking to increase their fitness levels, whether strength or endurance, the general consensus is to not increase more than 10 percent per week. To be safe, when getting back to the gym, use the 10 percent guideline for the first month or two.

Make sure to get lots of sleep and eat as healthy as possible. Think of your body like a car. When you fail to change the oil in your car - and if the body does not get the minimal requirements it needs from food and sleep - it eventually begins to break down.

And, of course, listen to your body. Pain is a warning sign that something is wrong. Backing off activity is not fixing the problem.

When pain starts, you have two options - ignore it and make it worse or fix it.

l For more information, email Scharf at cody.scharf@gmail.com or visit www.thrivespineandsport.com