Category — Injuries

If you’ve ever played baseball or football, odds are you’ve experienced shoulder pain at some point. How you deal with and treat that pain ultimately determines how quickly you can get back on the field.

Men’s Health provides some good tips and treatment suggestions for shoulder pain and impingement. They focus on developing flexibility in the area and treating it with rest and anti-inflammatory medications. Also, mild to moderate weight training in the area can help in developing strength.

Remember, all of us love to play recreational sports, however you have treat yourself just as a professional athlete would — you have to take care of your body and the areas that you put stress on when you compete. If you do that, your body will thank you and you’ll be able to participate in the sports you love for many years.

According to Men’s Fitness magazine (April 2008, page 18) it’s safe to train to failure as long as your training volume is low. That is, you’re not doing more than 12 sets per workout.

For those of you who are new to the world of muscle building, training to failure is when you get to the point where you cannot complete another repitition of a particular exercise without sacrificing good form.

If you’re doing more than 12 sets per workout you are risking serious damage or injury. So, although training to failure can get those muscles pumping you need to exercise caution and make sure you’re not putting yourself at risk for injury.

Most of you have read or heard about the many benefits fish oil provides. However, in addition to raising your “good” cholesterol by way of omega-3 fatty acids, did you know it also works as an anti-inflammatory? So athletes, weightlifters, and weekend warriors alike can get relief from nagging muscle strains and aching joints.

Try to aim for 2-3 servings per day (anywhere from 2-6 tablets) depending on the brand and serving size.  Also, make sure that the fish oil contains both EPA and DPA, the two most important good fats in fish.

Some people are put off by fish oil due to nasty aftertastes or what we’ve come to call “fish burp.” Nature Made and some other brands have come up with a way to prevent this by producing a tablet that has an enteric coating which prevents the pill from breaking up until it is well digested.

At MensHealth.com, Phoenix Suns’ guard Amare Stoudemire talks about his road to recovery from microfracture knee surgery. He says that a few easy tips helped him regain his vertical leap:

- Run with guys who can torch you

- Boost your weight room gains

- Fix your pains with foam [roll]