Side-step niggling sports injuries, naturally.
Warm up or warm the bench. Okay, this might seem a little obvious, but the first way to get rid of niggling sports injuries is to avoid acquiring them in the first place. You’ll hear me saying it elsewhere - prevention is always better than cure. That being said, participation in athletic activities is at an all-time high.
Billions of dollars are spent annually on sports marketing and apparel. A well-documented rise in the incidence of sports injuries is an expected and obvious corollary to sport-centric or sport-conscious cultures.
The American College of Sports Medicine estimates that some 50% of sports injuries can be avoided. How? It’s actually simple.
Walk before you run, literally and figuratively. Progress sensibly. Lay solid foundations. Wear protective gear. Warm up and stretch before and after. If your body was an engine, water would be your oil: Hydrate! Pay attention to what your body tells you. Pain and discomfort are our natural early warning systems.
Sport has become big business. Sports injury even bigger business.
Every time a sports person injures him or herself, no matter if they are a weekend-warrior or a pro, the pharmaceutical industry does a Mexican Wave. The burgeoning market for gels, anti-inflammatories, tinctures, lubes, braces and athletic rehabilitation supports, has put many a Big-Pharma fat cat behind the wheel of the latest-model Porsche.
Your body is a 100% natural bio-mechanical machine. Give it 100% natural ways to heal.
Before you reach for the medicine cabinet, remember that the time immediately after sustaining a sports injury or sprain is critical. Memorise the acronym, RICE.
- Rest the injured part as soon as it is hurt to avoid further injury.
- Ice the area of pain to decrease swelling and bleeding.
- Compress the area with an elastic bandage to limit swelling and bleeding.
- Elevate the injured part above the level of the heart to increase drainage of fluids out of the injured area.
Don’t let Big Pharma reap big benefits from minor ailments.
You can recover more rapidly by taking natural nutrients that decrease inflammation and speed healing.
- Rub Calendula (a medicinal flower) ointment on blisters and then cover with a clean dry bandage. Calendula's antimicrobial properties reduce inflammation and speed healing.
- Don’t dive for the antibiotics when you get Swimmer’s Ear. This infection occurs when excess moisture throws off the ear's pH balance allowing bacteria to colonize. Use a dropper to place 0.25 milliliters of body-temperature white vinegar in your ear; repeat twice a day for 48 hours.
- Find out why sports pros are attracted to magnet therapy. Your best anti-inflammatory for that sports sprain or injury might be a needle or a spot-magnet. Acupuncture increases levels of hormones like serotonin, cortisol, and endorphins in the blood, which reduces inflammation and pain. Practitioners of the Japanese school of acupuncture have been using magnets on acupuncture points, sometimes called acupoints, for centuries. Research how this might help you by looking at spot magnet kits like those that are becoming available on websites like thenaturalgroup.com.au and others. The world has had a stomach-full of ibuprofen!
Magnet therapy; the sports injury option with increasing pulling power.
Humungous pharmaceutical companies continue to try to discredit natural therapies in general, and magnet therapy in particular. Why? Because it’s cheap, it’s a one-time purchase and it can’t be patented. Bob and weave. Duck and dive. Stay natural. Stay injury-free. See you in the gym ;)