Help Prevent Sports Injuries: Warm-up and Cool-down!

When it comes to preventing sports injuries, perhaps no piece of advice is more valuable than that relating to warming-up and cooling-down. The warm-up and cool-down sessions during exercise can go a long way to negating the need for any sports first aid emergencies.

Warming-up
Warm-up exercises are especially important in preparing the body for activity. With so many sports first aid emergencies relating to the strain and stress of muscles and ligaments, it's no wonder warm-ups are such a concern for athletes, trainers and coaches. The warm-up stage of exercise allows the muscles time to stretch and loosen, and increases blood flow throughout the body. That increase of blood flow helps to optimise the effects of exercise.

Simple warm-up exercises include tailored stretching sessions to increase muscle flexibility of a particular area, a planned set of stretches to loosen the whole body, and light jogging to increase blood flow and raise the body's temperature.

Cooling-down
Arguably the less utilised of the two, cooling-down is no less important than the warm-up. Cool-down exercises allow the heart to return to its normal pace gradually, lower adrenaline and lactic acid levels steadily. Cool-down exercises include similar tailored stretches to the warm-up (without which the muscles can quickly become stiff, potentially causing an injury if exerted again without caution), gentle jogging and walking (both of which work to return the body's circulation processes and temperature back to normal at a relaxed rate to avoid fainting etc.)

No warm-up or cool-down regime can guarantee an accident-free training session. For problem areas, perhaps consider sports supports as a partner to warm-up and cool-down activities. Where sports injuries are concerned, use common sense. There are some pains sports supports and preparation exercises just can't help. If worried about an injury or health issue, always seek a professional medical opinion.

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