Protect Yourself From Injury

The orthopaedic surgeons at Gleneagles Hospital revealed at their Sports Injuries & You talk at Suntec City how you can make sure that you spend more time playing sport than in their office

Fit Trick #1: Know Your Body
Want to know what your chances of dislocation are? Then try this quick test. If your thumb can touch your arm, your little finger can bend back to touch your hand and neither your knees or elbows are in a straight line when outstretched, your ligaments are looser than the majority of people. So this means that your chances of dislocation are higher than that of other people.

Fit Trick #2: Get Strong
Golf swings, swimming strokes and even a downward dog can cause you shoulder problems if your shoulders are a little on the weak side. A quick way to strengthen your shoulders is to squeeze your shoulder blades together (pretend that you are holding a nut between your shoulder blades to perfect that squeeze).

Fit Trick #3: Perfect Your Form
Each sport comes with its own mini hazards. Here are a few quick tips that could keep you having fun instead of sitting on the bench.

Weightlifting
Warm up with aerobic exercises, then use training machines rather than free weights so that your movement is more controlled and your weight doesn’t travel.

Cycling
When riding over uneven ground wear biking gloves so that it reduces the impact. And make sure that your bike has shock absorbers.

Swimming
To make sure that you reduce your chance of shoulder injury, don’t straighten your arms when you do your stroke, do not cross your arms and keep your thumb tucked in.

Golf
Use two straps to carry your golf bag and always bend at the knees to pick up the ball. Make sure that you also have a stand for your bag so that you’re not tempted to carry it all the time too.

Main image: Posed by model. No relation to Gleneagles Hospital.