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- Hidden Dangers at the Gym for your Back and Body...
- By: STEVE HEFFERON
If you go to the gym to get healthy and fit, look good, feel good and pamper your ego, then I urge you take a minute to think about something,
Do you remember the old adage, "People like to do what they are good at and comfortable with"? Are you living that old adage at the gym? Most people do. They have a set routine at the gym and it's that routine coupled with the mechanics of the equipment that can lead to trouble--either very quickly or over time.
Here is the problem. Working out can lead to injury, no question. The challenge is in knowing how it can happen and how to prevent it. There are two basic categories of injuries: the sudden accident (a.k.a. trauma) and what can be described as the Process Injury (in other words, the long, slow development of a condition.) My goal is to protect you from both types of injury.
Traumatic Injury at the Gym
Let's start with the 5 basic concepts of working out in order to show you how easy it is to injure yourself in a traumatic way.
* Intensity: How hard you work out.
* Frequency: How often you work out.
* Duration: How long you work out.
* Progressive Resistance: Using more resistance with each set you perform.
* Progressive Overload: Starting at a higher level of resistance at subsequent workouts.
Each one of these principles has the ability to cause injury. But when you couple them with having a trainer or workout partner egging you on to eek out one more rep as you get fatigued, you go into all kinds of contorted positions to get the job done.
All of a sudden, Bam-O! A hundred different injuries can happen. And they will take a long time to heal. You will have defeated the entire purpose of going to the gym in the first place.
Please understand that the body can tolerate a lot of abuse before you pay the penalty of an injury. Just know that injuries can happen in seconds and the effects can last a lifetime.
Injury as a Process
Traumatic injuries do happen. But more often it is the slow progression injuries that are far more sinister and very well may be the root cause of some traumatic injuries. So I would like to focus on what happens over the long term so that you can make a change now to prevent injuries.
I have spent the last 10 years of my life dealing specifically with what are called muscle imbalances and their effects on the back and body. In describing the concept I will use some examples and try to make you aware of what possible injuries you could be facing.
Let me begin by describing what muscle imbalances are and then give you an example. Muscle imbalance can be defined as strength and flexibility of one muscle group compared to the opposite muscle group. So if you compare the strength and flexibility of the quadriceps to the opposite muscle group, the hamstrings, in nine out of 10 people the quads will be overly strong and overly tight compared to the hamstrings. That's the definition of having a muscle imbalance.
How Back and Body Injures Start!
The quads are always going to be stronger then the hamstrings, so you may be wondering what is wrong with that. Let me give you some possible examples of what can happen if your quads are out of balance with your hamstrings. As I give this example, understand that there are other imbalances that often happen at the same time to develop this condition. For example, the hip flexors and the glutes can be out of balance too.
When the quads are out of balance with the hamstrings, there can be uneven and excessive wear and tear on the cartilage and ligaments of the knee. The knee will not function correctly and conditions will develop to the point were running or physical activity will be impossible.
Second, balance between the quads and the hamstrings keep the pelvis in a neutral and stable position. But when you have overly strong and overly tight quads, your pelvis will be pulled in several different directions. In some cases the whole pelvis is pulled excessively forward. In other cases one side of the pelvis comes even more forward and the hip goes too high, causing the pelvis to rotate. This is very common in physically active women over 40.
When the pelvis is not in the most neutral and most stable position possible, the spine may go into abnormal curvature. It is that abnormal curvature caused by the muscle imbalance that can set you up for hip problems, SI joint problems, back problems and sciatica.
How Does This Happen?
The very equipment you are using at the gym is either directly or indirectly helping you develop your muscle imbalances and setting you up for future problems.
Let me give you some examples. You cannot help but develop raw quad strength when you use the leg extension machine. As I asked you before, do you stick to exercises that you like to do? Let's face it, everyone hates to work the hamstrings because they are weak and it is hard to do. So most people overwork their quads and under-work their hamstrings.