#gyminjuries

🏋️‍♂️ Training hard is great, but training smart is even better! 🚀 Many gym injuries happen due to poor form, overloading, or skipping warm-ups—and your knees, shoulders, and back pay the price! ❌ ✅ Fix your form, protect your joints, and stay injury-free!

Twenty-five-year-old Manan Vyas has been a gym enthusiast for three years, but encountered a shoulder dislocation last year, which took a huge toll on him. 

A few years ago, the only people we associated with the gym were men who were body builders or women who wanted to lose weight. Today, with an increasing number of people realising the importance of diet and exercise, the rise of the gym culture has seen an upward trend, and the type of people flocking to gyms has completely changed. 

To some extent, the credit for this goes to celebrities, who flaunt their well-toned bodies and muscles on screen and inspire youngsters. In addition to this, these days, an increasing number of individuals are going to gyms to counter the side effects of their hectic urban lifestyles.

Gym injuries continue to spiral

However, with the rise in the number of young gym buffs, is the accompanying rise in the number of injuries associated with this trend. Gym injuries are, in fact, soaring even faster than the growing number of people turning up to work out at gyms.

It's not known exactly why, but experts say one factor might be that "less conditioned" people are turning up at gyms. There are people who go beyond their endurance levels.

Gym-goers are under the impression that if there is no pain, there will be no gain. While it is important to challenge oneself to improve one’s own performance, pushing oneself to the point of pain usually results in an overuse injury.

Icing injuries can be one of the most important immediate treatment steps for acute injuries such as sprains and strains, overuse injuries, contusions and bruises.

What does ice do?

When you injure a body part, your body goes through the inflammatory process to help heal the tissue. The marks of inflammation include increased tissue temperature, redness, pain and swelling. 

We use ice to control swelling and pain because the body is really good at sending blood and cells to an injured body part to heal it. Ice narrows your blood vessels, which helps prevent blood from accumulating at the site of injury, which will add to inflammation and swelling while delaying healing. The limited circulation helps keep the swelling down. The ice also helps decrease painful signals that you may feel after your injury.

A good rule of thumb to remember following an injury is RICE: rest, ice, compression, and elevation. You should generally ice the area for 48 to 72 hours to reduce secondary tissue damage and ease pain. Ice should be applied for about a minimum time period of 20 minutes once an hour. 

How does RICE work?

- Rest and protect the injured or sore area 

- Ice the area for 20-45 minutes, three or more times a day. Do not apply ice or heat directly to the skin.

- Compression or wrapping the injured or sore area with an elastic bandage will help decrease swelling. Don't wrap it too tightly, because this can cause more swelling below the affected area

- Elevate the injured or sore area on pillows while applying ice and anytime you are sitting or lying down. Try to keep the area at or above the level of your heart to help minimise swelling.

 The cold, hard truth about icing 

Icing an injury is not as simple as grabbing some ice or putting on a gel pack. For the effective healing of an injury, the ice needs to be in the recommended temperature range of 4 to 14 degrees Celsius. Ice and most gel packs do not provide this and come with their share of cons as stated below:

1. Too messy: Most people don’t want to deal with a cold pack dripping down their body and onto the furniture. Even the traditional method of using a bag of frozen peas gets condensation on the surface. 

2. Too cold: Although cold therapy has many benefits, too cold is not safe for the skin and other tissues. Many cold packs are too cold to be safely applied to bare skin, at least initially. 

3. Too warm too soon: The cold pack that goes on too cold quickly becomes too warm from body heat that draws the cold away from it. Although this might feel more comfortable, the benefits decrease as the temperature of the cold pack increases.

4. Too inconvenient: Most people find that holding an ice pack on an injury is just too inconvenient. Ice packs are difficult to thoroughly and effectively apply to many parts of the human body.

5. Not enough coverage: A cold pack only provides so much coverage. Applying cold to the entire area surrounding the injury can help achieve optimal coverage, but this isn’t achievable with a single ice pack that you have to hold.

With regard to applying chemical cold packs, experts urge caution because the below-freezing temperature and direct exposure to the skin can cause tissue damage. 

What's the solution?

The solution to overcoming these disadvantages is the SandPuppy Coldstrap, as it straps around the parts of your body that need healing; the cold sensation can relax sore muscles quickly. In addition, it is also:

1. Portable: You don't have to sit in one spot and ice your injury. Leave it wrapped around your injury and continue about your chores for the day! 

2. Stays in place: It has a premium fabric to strap and hold the gel, meaning it will stay in place, without you needing to hold it. 

3. Lasts longer: SandPuppy uses proprietary formulation that lasts 45 minutes in the recommended temperature range of 4 to 14 degree Celsius. 

That's three times longer as compared with normal cooling gels available. A two-hour cooling in a refrigerator allows 45 minutes of usage.

4. Relaxes pain areas: The unique strapping mechanism allows the relaxation of different muscles and pain areas.