No one really likes to admit it, but injuries are just a fact of life. Sure enough at some point down the road you will experience some sort of injury whether minor or major. The key thing is knowing how to rehabilitate whatever injury you sustain and return your body to it’s optimal function. Being a certified injury rehab specialist as well as a certified corrective exercise specialist, we are confident that together we can get over almost any injury you sustain and restore your body to it’s prime condition.

In order to help you prevent these injuries from occurring in the first place, we have listed a few common reasons for injuries so that you can start taking the proper precautions today.

Lack of Adequate Flexibility – When it comes down to injuries, flexibility is usually one of the main culprits. We chose the word “adequate” intentionally because there are many people out there who feel as if they are flexible enough to carry out their chosen activities; however, they find themselves laid up in bed with some sort of injury that could have possibly been avoided with just a little bit more flexibility. The lower back is probably the best example we can give on this topic because of its’ high rate of injury. In America we have a very high rate of sedentary individuals, not always by choice, but because of the typical 9 to 5 job which requires people to sit for extended periods of time. Couple this with the longer commute times spent sitting behind the wheel or a car, and you have a sure fired equation for having lower back issues over time. Most of these lower back issues can be avoided with the proper stretching and strengthening routine of the hip flexors and hip extensors. We highly recommend yoga to help open up the hips, BUT NOT BIKRAM, as it has very negative effects on the thermoregulatory system.

Lack of Water – Our muscles are made up of about 75% water, which means that if you are dehydrated, your muscles will suffer. To avoid this it is important to drink roughly 60-80% of your body weight in ounces of water each day, more so when it’s very hot and humid outside. A good marker for your hydration level is your thirst. At 2% dehydration your body triggers the thirst impulse which means that your goal should be to never be thirsty. So how does this have to do with injury? Simply put, a dehydrated muscle is tight muscle making it more susceptible to injury. Water is also very important in injury rehab because it helps transport the needed nutrients to the injured site. One more note on drinking water that is very important is that your body can only utilize 8-10oz of water every 20 minutes, so be careful how quickly you drink water during your workouts.

Improper Exercise Form – Have you ever been working out in a gym and seen someone pulling a bar down behind their head on the the lat pull down machine and thought, wow that doesn’t look right? If you have then you are 100% correct. Slight self made modifications to the technique on any of the pieces of equipment found in the gym can really wreak havoc on your body if you’re not positive that you know what you’re doing. Time and time again people get injured because they are simply using the equipment incorrectly. All these injures might not be acute to where you feel pain immediately, but all of them WILL at some point down the road be the cause of an injury. Here are a few key pointers on commonly used pieces of equipment at your local gym. First, as stated above, NEVER pull a lat pull down bar behind your head. Instead your shoulders should stay back and the bar should be brought down just below your chin or to the top of your chest. Second, when doing any type of pushing or pulling exercise, never let your shoulders roll forward. This pulls the head of the humerus out of proper alignment and will eventually cause shoulder problems. Third, when doing any leg exercise such as the squat, dead-lift, and lunges be sure that your back is STRAIGHT. This is a very common mistake made when someone chooses a weight that is too heavy for them and it causes the vertebral disks to be stressed far beyond their means.