WASHINGTON — With the weather turning warmer, weekend athletes are heading outside in droves. But far too many end up hurting.
“We do see a lot of injuries this time of year,” says Dr. Bryan Murtaugh, a sports medicine specialist with the MedStar National Rehabilitation Network.
He says on spring weekends, too many people — eager to exercise outdoors after a long winter — try to do too much too fast and overtax an elbow, shoulder, knee or hamstring.
“Overuse injuries are the most common injury that we typically see,” he says. Murtaugh explains that some people increase their activity level too quickly, while others train too hard without adequate rest, or do the same repetitive motion over and over without strength training or stretching.
And this physician speaks from personal experience: When he was a medical student, Murtaugh took up running and, like many young newcomers to the sport, he pushed too hard.
“I was increasing my running too fast and I ended up having some knee pain,” he says.
These days, he cross-trains — playing a little basketball and lifting weights at the gym in addition to running. He also makes sure to get a proper warmup before exercise and a five- to 10-minute cooldown when he is finished to return his heart rate to normal.
Murtaugh says gentle stretching after warming up or at the end of his exercise routine can also help prevent injury, and any weekend athlete needs to be aware of the proper form for his or her sport — from throwing a softball, to running up hills.
Post-exercise soreness can be treated initially with ice, rest and anti-inflammatories.
Murtaugh says, “you want to get to a doctor if the pain is persistent or it is progressively getting worse.”
And there is one other piece of advice from this doctor/athlete: Never push through pain — it’s a proven way to make matters worse.
