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Some areas may not feel like it, but spring is right around the corner and many people are getting ready for warmer outdoor activities. This transition in recreation from winter to spring activities also brings a new risk of possible injuries, which doctors say are common this time of year.
Stessie Zimmerman, MD, sports medicine physician at Intermountain Health, says winter and spring activities often work muscle groups in different ways. In many cases, as people transition to outdoor activities, the injuries come from overestimating one’s fitness level.
“Even if you partake in winter sports, it works muscle groups in different ways and our overall activity level is usually lower in winter,” said Dr. Zimmerman. “Most injuries we see are from people going too hard and too fast right as the weather gets nicer, and their bodies can’t keep up.”
Researchers have mixed results about what causes certain injuries but have shown they are higher in the spring. One study found there are more ruptured Achilles tendon injuries in the spring, and they’re lowest in the fall.
These overuse injuries can also include a strained back, pulled muscles, and strained tendons. The worst overuse injury is a stress fracture, which is initially a small crack or cracks in the bone culminating into a complete fracture caused by repetitive force on one part of the body like a foot or leg.
Dr. Zimmerman suggests people gradually increase their activity as they begin transitioning to outdoor activities like hiking, running or bike riding in the spring. She also recommends not increasing activity more than 10 percent per week.
Also, Dr. Zimmerman recommends that you start off slowly and gradually increase your speed or resistance with your activity. Another way of avoiding injury is to focus on strength training early in the transition to a new activity.
“As we tend to sit more during the winter, our core muscles become weaker, starting by training your core will help prepare you for outside activities,” Dr. Zimmerman noted. “Exercises like planks are a good way to train your core. It’s more than just about getting a six-pack but think of is as the center of our body.”
Another important aspect of avoiding future injuries is to get rest and focus on recovering from a current injury. Many times, people are conditioned to ignore and push through pain thinking this will hasten improvement, but when that pain is from an injury it can end up making things worse.
Dr. Zimmerman says that while some discomfort is part of exercise, pain should not be the goal.
When experts talk about pain and exercise, they use a 0-10 scale with 10 being the worst pain a patient can experience. Dr. Zimmerman says exercise should be no more than 4 or less on this scale. If the pain is higher than this, it is a signal to stop and figure out what is causing the pain.
“The best way to continue staying active is to make sure you take care of any injuries big or small,” said Dr. Zimmerman. “Rest is good for the body and it’s okay to give yourself a break.”
Stessie D. Zimmerman, MD, is a member of Intermountain Medical Group, and a doctor of medicine specializing in sports medicine at the Intermountain The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital in Murray, Utah.
For more information on about sports medicine at Intermountain click here.
About Intermountain Health
Headquartered in Utah with locations in seven states and additional operations across the western U.S., www.intermountainhealth.org is a nonprofit system of 33 hospitals, 385 clinics, medical groups with some 3,900 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For more information or updates, see https://intermountainhealthcare.org/news.
