Playing sports requires you to be extremely physically active. Because of the physical demands sports place on your body, you become more vulnerable to sports injuries.
As an athlete, you’ve probably known at least one player who has experienced a bone fracture. Luckily, there are steps you can take to prevent broken bones while engaging in the sports you love. Here’s how you can take care of your bone health as an athlete at any age.
Acute Fractures vs. Stress Fractures
There are two types of bone fractures — acute fractures and stress fractures.
Acute fractures result from sports accidents, like sudden trauma to a certain body part. These fractures are common in contact sports like football and hockey. Unfortunately, you can’t always protect yourself from acute fractures.
Stress fractures are a bit different. When you repeatedly stress the same muscles gained while playing sports, those muscles can weaken. This leads to added pressure and impact on your bones. Over time, performing the same movements over and over can create small cracks in the affected bone(s). These cracks are stress fractures.
Avoiding Stress Fractures
Your muscles and bones need time to heal after significant stress. Very active athletes often don’t rest long enough to allow stress fractures to heal, so the damage gets worse.
Here are some steps you can take to avoid stress fractures as an athlete:
- Rest after big games and intense practices
- Don’t ignore persistent pain
- Wear orthopedic support shoes
- Target different muscle groups throughout the week
- Take time off after getting injured
- Gradually transition when starting new, intense movements and activities
These precautions will help your bone health stay intact throughout your athletic career.
Take Care of Your Bones
Bone health is serious, no matter what age you are. As you get older, you’ll feel the negative effects of injuries and physical stress from when you were younger. Take care of your bone health now — so they can better support you later in life. This post was written by a medical professional at Stemedix Inc. At Stemedix we provide access to Regenerative Medicine. Regenerative medicine has the natural potential to help improve symptoms sometimes lost from the progression of many conditions.
