Health

How To Stay Healthy And Injury Free In The New Year

The New Year is seen by many as an opportunity to reform and make decisions that will improve one’s life in some way. Improving fitness is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions out there, with gyms full to the brim and new runners pounding the streets in January.

In order to maintain an active lifestyle, aside from motivation, it is useful to keep some basic principles in mind, which when acted upon, should contribute to a healthy body, and help prevent injuries:

Lower Limb Health Needs To Be Taken Into Account

The hips and knees (the large joints) especially do a lot of work and play an essential role in carrying the weight of the body. Without care and attention, and particularly if one is slightly out of practice, these joints are vulnerable to wear and tear. It is important to warm up before and after exercising, stretch regularly, and build muscle up gradually to avoid injuries. When getting into, or re-starting any sport, enlisting the support of a personal trainer or a virtual ‘supervisor’ would be worthwhile. An expert, who is able to demonstrate correct technique and create a personalised development plan for you, is an invaluable asset.

Load The Joints

Bodies are built for motion and regular exercise is very important. Try to incorporate a variety of workouts into your week, which cover both cardio and weight training. Weight bearing exercises are particularly important for maintaining good bone health, as with age the body slowly begins to lose bone mass. Men have a higher peak bone mass than women and their bone width and size is greater. Women are more vulnerable to developing osteoporosis due to physiological hormonal changes. This is where the bones become more fragile and brittle, making them more prone to fractures and breaks. As such, it is decidedly equally important for women to persevere with weight training exercises in order to sustain a healthy bone density.

The bone, contrary to what many might think, is a continuously growing tissue and keeps growing and remodelling at any age. Human requirements will differ depending on their age and gender, so it is important to be aware that as we grow older, capabilities will change and dietary intakes may need to adapt to an evolving body. It is most important to be mindful of this when kick starting an exercise regime, which for whatever reason, may have fallen by the wayside in recent months or years. It is when starting an exercise routine again after a break when injuries are most likely to take place.

A good diet, rich in proteins, calcium and vitamin D is very important. If one is doing a lot of exercise, but is not getting enough dietary nutrients, this could be doing more harm than good

Enjoy A Healthy Diet

A good diet, rich in proteins, calcium and vitamin D is very important. If one is doing a lot of exercise, but is not getting enough dietary nutrients, this could be doing more harm than good.

The skeleton is our body’s storage bank for calcium - a mineral that is necessary for our bodies to function. Calcium is especially important as a building block for bone.

We must get calcium from the foods we eat. If we do not have enough calcium in our diets to keep our bodies functioning, calcium is removed from where it is stored in our bones. Over time, this will cause bones to grow weaker and will eventually lead to osteopenia and then osteoporosis.

Common Injuries

In my clinic, I see many instances of injuries as a consequence of slipping, tripping, and falling, as well as overuse injuries. It is important that before undertaking any exercise, you know what you are doing. This can be managed by enlisting professional support, as well as starting slowly and building up capability and technique over time. For example, when taking up running, it would be sensible to start with a short 10-minute run, and gradually build up to longer runs over time. When it comes to weight training, starting with lighter loads is essential to avoid muscle strains and tears. Focus on perfecting technique first, whilst building up strength, before making the loads more challenging. Always make sure to listen to your body and don’t overstrain – this is when injuries occur.

Overuse injuries are also very common. Simply put, overuse means that the body has been put under slightly more stress than it can tolerate at that moment in time. A cause, which I often encounter, is people picking up exercise after a break of some time, and assuming their abilities have remained the same. In the intervening months or years however, bodies and capabilities have changed. In these cases, kick starting a vigorous exercise regime will more often than not result in an injury.

An easy way to avoid this type of injury, which will be of particular relevance to all those with health resolutions this January, is to start small, make incremental gains, and most importantly, listen to your body. Eat a varied and balanced diet, drink plenty of water to stay hydrated, and remember that rest is essential to integrating the benefits of exercise.

It is also worth saying that there are seasonal variations in injuries. Knee ligament injuries are extremely common in winter; one of the most common being an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) sprain or tear. The ACL runs diagonally in the middle of the knee and prevents the shinbone from sliding out in front of the thighbone, as well as providing rotational stability to the knee. There is always a flurry of people coming into clinic with ACL injuries sustained after bad twists or falls, either due to winter sports, most commonly skiing, or simply from slipping on wet and icy winter roads.

The London Marathon is another trigger for injuries and I see many cases of bone stress, fractures, and breaks, as well as muscle fatigue, as a consequence.

Common causes for these are over-training, and unbalanced training regimes, with too much focus on cardio, and too little on strength, stability, and stretching.

What To Do Following An Injury

The first thing to remember is that injuries are normal and par for the course. Most injuries sustained during every day exercise, such as aches and sprains, can be managed at home. It is important to recognise there may be a problem rather than ignoring any pain and pushing on through, which could make an injury much worse. Stop your activity. If necessary, take painkillers and anti-inflammatories, ice the injury, and then get plenty of rest. If you are worried, many doctors now conduct virtual appointments, or Urgent Care Clinics, such as the one at St John & St Elizabeth Hospital, offer appointments, many on the same day, for treatment of minor injuries and illnesses.

Should you have commenced treatment at home, but are not seeing any improvement after a day or two, seek help. Alternatively, should you injure yourself, feel intense pain and cannot put any weight on the limb, do not delay in seeking help. In this situation, seeing a specialist straight away would be advantageous and could avoid complications further down the line.

Mr Sujith Konan is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at St John & St Elizabeth Hospital

In my clinic, I focus on all aspects of hip and knee surgery including hip and knee arthroscopy, reconstructions for sports injury, hip and knee replacements and revision hip and knee surgery. As such, by the time a patient comes to me, they will have already conducted some investigations into their issue, seen a GP, and sought advice from family and friends. I will always take a history from the patient, and will ask such questions as; how did it start? How has it progressed? Has it happened before? Does the person have other medical issues? Clinical examination is also very important to get a general feel for what the bone/joint is like; the muscle is like and so on.

Imaging, such as CT, x-ray, or MRI scans- depending on what we are looking at, will confirm the diagnosis. This final step helps with counselling a patient, looking at options, and creating a bespoke management plan.

The reality is that a very small proportion of people will need surgery. Surgery is only undertaken when it may achieve faster rehabilitation, or if it will help preserve and rehabilitate the injury better than the body’s own healing process. Should surgery be needed though, most patients will be able to walk and go back home the same day. Get in touch: 0203 763 7082 E: patomrkonan@gmail.com

ROBERT MCGUIRE

Associate Director/ Global Employer Services Robert.McGuire@bdo.co.uk