Health Tip: Protect Your Muscles
(HealthDay News) - It's important to stretch and warm up your muscles before exercise.
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons lists these common risk factors for muscle strains and injury:
-
Tired muscles that have been worked too hard.
-
Tight muscles that haven't been properly stretched.
-
Weak muscles that haven't been strengthened through training and exercise.
-
Muscles that haven't been warmed up before exercise, sports or other activities.
-
Muscle groups that work together that don't have properly balanced strength. For example, a stronger hamstring than quadriceps, or vice versa.
Online Medical Reviewer:
Sylvia Byrd, RN, BSN, MBA
Online Medical Reviewer:
Daphne Pierce-Smith, RN, MSN, FNP, CCRC
Last Annual Review Date:
3/2/2009