Healthy Living: Exercise, Muscle Health, Back Pain & Sports Injuries
The Benefits of Exercise for a Healthy Life
Exercise Benefits: Exercise is good for you. It helps to prevent heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Exercise also helps you to manage weight and to reduce stress. In short, exercising helps extend life and improve its quality.
Heart Disease Causes
High cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, stress, diabetes.
Types of Physical Activity
- Inactive
- Moderately active
- Active with regular exercises
- Active with regular aerobic exercises
10 Tips for Exercising
- Choose activities you enjoy.
- Exercise for about 30 minutes a day.
- Begin exercise gradually.
- Warm up and stretch before exercising.
- Exercise at your own pace.
- Do stretching exercises.
- If you miss a few sessions, restart at a lower level than before.
- If you get bored with your current activity, change to a different exercise.
Starting an exercise program can be made easy and successful if you: Select activities you like, start with realistic goals, and gradually increase the intensity of the exercise.
Understanding Muscles and Their Health
Types of Muscles
3 Types: voluntary muscles of the skeletal system, involuntary smooth muscles, involuntary cardiac muscles.
All muscles: can be excited by a nerve or a stimulus, contract when stimulated, relax after contraction.
Diseases Affecting Muscles via Nerves
- Spinal cord injuries
- Pinched nerves in the neck or back
- Polio
Diseases Directly Affecting Muscles
- Muscular dystrophy
- Myopathy
- Myositis
Diagnosis
EMG (Electromyogram), NCV (Nerve Conduction Velocity).
Occupational Therapy and Returning to Work
The goal of occupational therapy is to provide the returning worker with tasks that are meaningful and to facilitate the worker’s complete and total independence and function at work. A transitional work program also allows for the use of environmentally focused interventions that incorporate good, healthy ergonomic practices.
What Can an Occupational Therapist Do?
- Evaluate a person
- Recommend modifications
- Identify a worker’s meaningful job tasks
- Implement and supervise return
- Monitor a worker’s progress
What Can a Person Returning to Work Do?
- Do not overestimate his or her ability and capacity to complete job tasks.
- Complete tasks gradually.
- Implement the use of assistive devices.
- Develop strength and endurance.
Understanding and Managing Back Pain
What is Back Pain? Back pain is a ‘musculoskeletal disorder’ (MSD) which also includes neck pain and repetitive strain injury (RSI), now known as Work-Related Upper Limb Disorder (WRULD).
Causes of Back Pain
Back pain has a wide variety of causes, from picking up a heavy parcel incorrectly to spending too long in one position. Feeling very anxious or stressed can make your pain worse. It is rarely due to a serious health problem.
How Can Physiotherapy Help?
These include manual treatments and acupuncture. Your physio will also advise you on appropriate exercise and pain relief.
Physios are the third largest health profession after doctors and nurses. They work in the NHS, in private practice, for charities, and in the workplace through occupational health schemes.
Tips for Managing Back Pain
- Exercise and activity
- Keep moving and continue with activities
- Paracetamol or similar pain-killers
- Avoid sitting for too long when driving or at work
- Gently stretch to prevent stiffness
- Take care when lifting
- Check your posture
- Check the mattress
- Don’t smoke
- Strengthen your trunk muscles
- Make sure your car seat and office chair are adjusted correctly
- Eat a healthy diet and exercise
Understanding and Treating Sports Injuries
Injury can affect your bones, muscles, joints, or the connective tissues that hold them together – the tendons and ligaments.
Causes of Sports Injuries
One common cause of injury, especially in contact sports, is trauma.
Typical Factors Contributing to Injuries
Extrinsic factors include: Excessive load on the body, poor technique, poor or inappropriate equipment, failure to warm up and warm down.
Intrinsic factors include: Genu valgus or genu varus, leg length discrepancy, muscle weakness or imbalance, limited flexibility, joint laxity, being overweight.
What Happens When You Get Injured?
When you get injured, there is typically swelling, redness, tenderness, and increased temperature.
What to Do After an Injury (NICER)
N = Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, I = Ice, or cold therapy, C = Compression, E = Elevation, R = Restricted activity.
Who Treats Sports Injuries?
Physiotherapy, Podiatry, Osteopathy, Chiropractic.