How to reduce your injury risk

Let’s face it, injuries really aren’t fun, and sometimes they are just simply unavoidable. However, there are plenty of common everyday injuries that can be avoided. By making a few small incremental changes to your lifestyle you can significantly reduce your injury risk and the resulting pain, complications and expensive treatment that come with it.

Improve your sleep

Being tired is tough. It impacts so much of our daily living, from impairing our ability to concentrate, right down to choosing what we eat. Lack of sleep is also unsafe and exposes us to greater risk of injury; it reduces our reaction times, creates increased errors and impairs our cognitive ability.

If you are feeling fatigued make sure that you avoid driving or operating machinery, take regular breaks from your work (both physical and mental), and try to get outside on your breaks.

Try these tips for getting a better night’s sleep:

Avoid spending excessive time lying in bed – get in when you are feeling sleepy, then get out once you wake up.
Try to keep a regular sleep/wake schedule
Keep screens (tv’s, laptops, tablets, phones, etc.) out of your bedroom at night
Avoid excessive food and drinks in the evening
Stay away from the caffeine and nicotine 4-5 hours before bed
Get active during the day. Aim for at least 30 minutes of exercise.
Try a hot shower or bath before bed
Make your sleeping environment a relaxing one that’s cool, dark and quiet

Prioritise your posture

If you want an example of good posture, just look at a young child. As we get older, we get into bad habits like slouching, sitting poorly and for too long, and general inactivity, causing muscle fatigue and tension. This then leads to poor posture and the resulting complications such as back pain, spinal dysfunction, joint degeneration and rounded shoulders.

What can you do?

Take regular breaks from sitting – stand up and stretch and move about every 20 minutes
Avoid standing with your weight on one foot or sitting cross-legged at the knee.
Have a professional ergonomic assessment.

Manage your stress

Chronic stress keeps both the mind and body in a continual cycle of alertness. This causes significant wear and tear on our biological systems, compromising our body’s ability to repair and defend itself. Also, when we are stressed, we are distracted, often lost in our thoughts, lacking awareness of ourselves and surroundings. As a result, the risk of injury escalates.

To reduce your risk of stress related injuries:

Avoid physically demanding activities when you know you are stressed. For example, don’t jump into a hard workout when you’ve had a very stressful day.
Incorporate some physical relaxation into your day. Try some deep breathing, go for a walk outside or have a bath.
Seek help to reduce and manage your stress as soon as you are aware of it. Getting on top of it early is always the best solution.

Watch your weight

Maintaining a healthy body weight not only reduces your risk of many chronic diseases, but it also reduces your risk of injury. The probability of falls, trips or stumbles, and the resulting musculoskeletal injuries, rises significantly with obesity. The increased body weight places additional stress on the bodies joints and musculoskeletal structures, which can result in longer term, more chronic related injuries. Sleep apnoea (inability to breathe when asleep) is also common in obesity, resulting in excessive fatigue, which we have already seen can also impact our risk of injury.

A healthy weight range can be identified by your BMI (Body Mass Index) or hip-to-waist ratio. It’s important to learn what a healthy weight for your height is, and if you aren’t quite there, slowly chip away at reducing your weight by managing your diet and increasing your exercise until you are. Always be realistic with your weight loss goes – aim for 0.5kg-1.0k loss per week at a maximum.

How to get started on your weight loss journey:

Get moving - Choose low impact activities initially when starting an exercise program, walking, cycling and swimming are all great options to help minimise the impact on your joints.
Start off slow with your exercise and gradually increase the duration and intensity a little bit more each week. For example, start with 30 minutes 3-4 times a week, then gradually increase this to 60 minutes 5-6 times a week.
Eat smarter - Look to change out the highly processed foods in your diet, which are high in saturated fats and refined sugars, with more nutritious wholefoods. Go for fruit, vegetables, legumes, wholegrains (rice, pasta, breads, etc.), and lean meat, like fish, poultry and/or alternatives.
Watch your portion sizes at mealtimes – try to build your plate with:
o ¼ (or palm sized) lean protein (lean chicken or fish, eggs, tofu, legumes, etc.),
o ½ vegetables/salad (aim for variety and colour – eat a rainbow), and
o ¼ good quality carbohydrates (brown rice, quinoa, oats, wholegrain pasta and bread, etc.).
Be careful not to drink your calories – limit alcohol and sugary drinks, and drink plenty of water instead.
Avoid snacking – if you’re following the healthy eating tips above you should find that you are less hungry between meals anyway. If you are going to snack, go for fruit or cut up vegetables like carrots, celery, cucumber, capsicum, etc.
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And most importantly, remember that the key to success is that you don’t have to be perfect, just be a little bit better!

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