People of all ages need to get active and stay active to maintain healthy bones and muscles. But for the average recreational athlete who has experienced tennis elbow or a runner's wobbly knees, the question arises -- how do you avoid the associated pitfalls of accidents and injury?
According to a panel of experts who spoke at a conference here on Friday, using the right equipment, getting adequate training, and carefully structuring workout goals and regimens are among the most important ways to get the most workout with the least risk of injury.
Exercising with a skilled friend and using safe equipment are two important ways to avoid accidents, according to Dr. Stuart A. Hirsch, chairman of the Communications Council of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, which co-hosted the conference with the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine.
Would-be exercisers also need to make sure to warm up and stretch before working out, which helps maintain flexibility and prevent injury. Most importantly, people can prevent injuries by putting together a realistic, balanced, and paced program of aerobic and nonaerobic exercise, stated Hirsch.
An athlete needs to listen to his or her body and not push so hard or so fast that safety becomes compromised, he said. Hirsch emphasized the need for people of all ages to get exercise.
"It should be as regular a part of our day as brushing our teeth," he said. "Most people should have 30 to 45 minutes of aerobic activity about 5 times a week, and almost all of us should add to that a component of weight training."
He added that this prescription was not just for men, even though traditionally lifting weights has been thought of as a primarily male enterprise.
"I'm speaking about most adult men and adult women," he said. "And that's a new concept since women have not been told they should engage in weight training, but they will see benefits even in modest amounts of exercise time."
The conference was designed to help the average person to avoid lower back pain and knee, hip, shoulder, foot, and ankle injuries. Such injuries account for half of all injures in the US every year.
One in seven Americans currently have a musculoskeletal disorder and almost 30 million experience a musculoskeletal injury each year.
