Injury Prevention and Treatment

 

Injury prevention is very important when doing physical exercise. Your health and safety should be your number one priority when exercising. Even after prevention there is always a chance that you will encounter an injury, soit is essential to know how to care for it. Taking care of your injury can makea huge difference and help you return to your activities as soon as possible.

Two things to focus on for injury prevention are strength and flexibility. It is important to have the appropriate strength to perform certain skills. For example, in tumbling, we stress arm strength so one can hold  themselves while upside down to protect the head and neck. Trying to perform exercises or skills without proper strength can lead to bad technique and injuries. These injuries can be acute, which is sudden, or chronic, in which it develops over time.

Flexibility is also something to take into consideration for injury prevention. When doing high paced or powerful movements, your body can go past the intended point therefore having great flexibility will protect the muscles and joints from injury. For example, in dance, not having flexibility while performing a battement can cause you to injure a leg muscle. Stretching everyday when muscles are warm is the great way to stay injury free.

Even with injury prevention there is always a chance for one to get hurt. Knowing how to care for the injury can speed up the recovery time and get you back to your activities as soon as possible. At Varsity, we like to followthe acronym RICE. The R stands for rest. Resting your injury will help it heal quicker. To rest an injury, do not put any unnecessary weight on the injury and refrain from using the injured area.

The I stands for ice. Icing an injury helps remove swelling from the area, only ice 15-20 minutes at a time so you do not develop ischemia in that area. If you don't have ice you can always purchase an ice pack, which is reusable. It is typically recommended to put a towel between the ice and skin so it is not too cold.

The C stands for compression. Compression helps remove the swelling, which is crucial because swelling will cause a lack of range of motion and can cause more pain. It also can slow down the blood flow to the area and blood flow is a very necessary part of the healing process. To compress an injury you want to have a firm fitting bandage wrapped around the injury however; it is crucial that this bandage is elastic so the muscles can still expand and receive blood.

Lastly,the E stands for elevation. Elevation, like ice and compression, helps reduce swelling. To effectively elevate an injury, you need to have it higher than the heart so the blood will return back into the system. For example, for an injured ankle you lay down and prop your foot up to the point where it is higher than your heart. By following these 4 steps you can quickly return from an injury.


Remember, first you want to take steps toward injury prevention because it is easier to prevent an injury than it is to come back from one. Injuries do happen and people return to their activities all the time.  Getting an injured body part back to its normal state is imperative before returning or it could cause further injury!

 

 


 


 

Author, Jill Parrott, has been a UCA instructor for 5 years.She won three UCA national titles when she was studying in Morehead State University and was a member on the 2011 USA all-girl cheerleading team which won the gold medal. Jill has had the chance to teach across the United States and Switzerland. She is extremely excited to be teaching here in China!

 

For more information, please call us at 020-37031336.


 


 

Varsity Cheerleading Academy

 

Address: ZhuguangNewtown International Center Block A, 4th Floor

Qingyi Street No.1, ZhujiangNewtown

Tianhe District Guangzhou City.

(Metro Line 5, Exit D, next toZhujiang Park)

Tel:     020-37031336

Website: www.varsity.com.cn

www.varsity.com

Wechat ID: varsitychina