Injuries are bound to happen. Even if you’re staying all day at home, there’s a slight chance you’ll end up with one. However, the stakes are high when you involve yourself in sports activities or intensive workouts. It goes without saying that a healthy lifestyle is an active lifestyle. Whether you’re trying to avoid visiting an ankle specialist in Singapore or saving your budget from costly treatment, there’s always a way to minimise the risk.

As we’ve said, injuries are bound to happen, and it’s a matter of reducing their likelihood to a point where you can engage in sports without experiencing aching pain or fracture. Sprains, strains, fractures and muscle injuries are a few of the many injuries that can stop you in your tracks.

Most of the signs can be obvious, such as stiffness, swelling and pain. However, there are a few symptoms that you can easily dismiss unless you visit a local orthopaedic doctor in Singapore for check-ups. Here are some of the early signs of injuries to watch out for that you might miss:

Early & Often Missed Signs Of Injuries To Watch Out For

Joint pain

Joint pain is one tell-tale sign of injuries, but many would often ‘miss it’ because it becomes less apparent after performing high-intensity activities. It’s less noticeable until the pain persists for more than a few weeks since it often resolves on its own.

If it continues to persist, then that’s when you realise that something is wrong. One can tell if the joints are injured or damaged when there is a painful sensation when touching a specific joint area. In this case, you might be better off visiting a nearby orthopaedic doctor for a diagnosis.

Numbness or tingling

Numbness and tingling are other subtle and early signs of sports injury you might have missed. In most cases, a burning sensation often accompanies this numbness and tingling. The symptoms are usually more apparent in areas such as your feet, hands, legs, toes and even fingers.

Should you experience a loss of control of your limbs, instability, confusion, muscle weakness or inability to move other parts of your body, seek a professional orthopaedic doctor.

Muscle pain

It’s not rare to experience muscle pain after a high-intensive training or sports activity. The motto “no pain, no gain” echoes the capacity of an individual to endure pain as a necessary step to make progress. However, it’s not always applicable, especially if you don’t want to seek a Singapore orthopaedic surgery or undergo a long recovery.

Muscle pain is among the less apparent and early signs that indicate body injury due to the attitude. If it continues and becomes severe, the more it becomes an obvious sign of an underlying problem in your body. Muscle pain might be a ‘normal’ condition that even one can experience when taking medicine or sleeping in a particular position for too long.

Nonetheless, one should develop awareness about what you do during your sports training and workout and monitor the aches you experience. It might be a condition that warrants medical treatment from an orthopaedic doctor.

Back pain

Back pain tells a lot about the condition you’re experiencing. It’s one you can brush off that harbours a more ‘serious’ problem. If you are experiencing back pain with hip pain or having difficulty walking after an intense workout, you might be having an orthopaedic fracture in the hip. Visit an orthopaedic doctor even if other symptoms do not accompany your back pain.

Seeing a specialist will help you gain early treatment and prevent orthopaedic conditions from progressing. Seeing a doctor is always a priority if you feel something is not right with your body.

Cutting Down The Risk For Sports Injury – What You Should Do

As we’ve said earlier, injuries will always happen, whenever and wherever you are. The most integral component here is knowing what you should do to decrease the probability of an injury occurring. It involves a degree of awareness and even practical knowledge.

Here’s what you should do to reduce the chance of having a sports injury:

Do warm-up and cool down before starting

It’s challenging to jumpstart any sports activity and workouts without proper warm-ups. Almost every orthopaedic doctor and even professional athlete will urge you to perform it before engaging in sports training. Why so? Because it allows your body to prepare itself by increasing its temperature and enhancing blood flow to muscles. When muscles are warm, you are able to move more freely, reducing stiffness and preventing tears.

Observe proper posture and form

Proper posture and form are integral to learning when performing high-intense training or sports activities. It helps your body operate at a safe limit. Therefore reducing the chance of injuring your muscles and even affecting your bones.

Hydrate yourself

While an orthopaedic doctor might not tell you how many glasses you need to drink during a workout or when performing sports activities, it’s safe to say that you should always carry a large bottle of water to avoid dehydration. Your body constantly loses its fluid via sweating—which is why drinking allows you to replenish and provide electrolytes.

The more you lose water in your body, the muscle becomes tense, making them more vulnerable to strains and tensions.

Know the proper equipment and technique

Having yourself learn the proper way to move while wearing the most suitable equipment further decreases the risk of any injuries occurring. Different workouts, sports and exercises require you to follow each stance and posture. It also goes the same with what you should wear, such as the correct footwear and other gear.

If you are looking for an ankle specialist or bunion surgery in Singapore, visit Specialist Orthopaedic Centre for more details about services.