(NC)—Whatever your favourite form of recreation, you're probably looking for a way to perform better, recover faster, and reduce your chance of injury. According to the Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation, one strategy can contribute to all three outcomes: warm-ups.
"Before you take your car out, you let the engine warm up; we need to do the same with our muscles, joints and ligaments," says Dr. Stewart Wright, a Toronto orthopaedic surgeon and Chair of the Foundation's Medical and Scientific Review Committee.
The specific warm-up depends on the activity. Skiers want to stretch their thighs and leg muscles, while for golfers the focus is on shoulders and backs. How much prep time do you need? It depends how stiff you are, but even a few minutes will help get your blood flow going and loosen you up.
"Muscles just work better if they're warmed-up and stretched," says Dr. Wright.
Warm-downs after your activity are just as important, he says. If you've overloaded your muscles, they can get tight and you can get cramps. So set a "post-game" routine of stretching out the same muscle groups, again just for a minute or two.
Several studies show that warm-ups decrease injuries, but at the very least stretching before and after recreation reduces muscle soreness the next day, notes orthopaedic surgeon John Theodoropoulos.
Warming up offers more than a physical edge, suggests Dr. Theodoropoulos, who consults with several Toronto professional sports teams: "The other reason to do it is performance. It improves your timing, gets the right muscles working, and gets your body and mind on the same wavelength so you're mentally into the game."
For more on keeping your bones and joints healthy, check the Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation's website, www.canorth.org.
- News Canada
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