How to Love Your Exercise

By Donna Stark

Your local chiropractors at The Joint Chiropractic love to exercise and they hope you love to exercise too because, in addition to being good for your overall health, exercise is also great for your spine. But before you lace up your shoes and head out for an intense workout, you need to make sure you're taking the right steps to keep yourself safe. How do you do that? That's a great question! Take a look at the following tips that will help reduce the risk of injury during exercise.

Warm Up and Cool Down

If you're not preparing your body before you work out and letting it cool down when you are finished, you could be setting yourself up for pain and injury. Just a few extra minutes of stretching and some light movements both before and after exercise is just enough to help keep your body safe.

Pay Attention to Form and Posture

It's easy to get "lazy" during your workouts, especially if your body is starting to tire, so be sure to pay particular attention to both your form and posture. You certainly don't want to strain a muscle or overextend a joint because fatigue is starting to set in. You also need to make sure you aren't rushing through your workout. Most accidents happen when we aren't paying attention or when we are simply moving too fast.

Slow Down or Stop

Your high school or college coach may have drilled the saying "no pain, no gain" into your head years ago, but now we know better! It's never a good thing to continue pushing your body when a part of it hurts, but that doesn't mean to stop when your workout gets hard. A challenging workout is extremely different than a painful workout, so learn the difference and stop when you are feeling the bad kind of hurt.

Get Regular Adjustments

Routine chiropractic care is a valuable tool when it comes to optimal performance during exercise and improved physical health and wellness. With regular adjustments, you can increase your body's range of motion, flexibility, balance, endurance, stamina, and strength. Chiropractic care also helps reduce the risk of injury by easing muscle tension and correcting joint dysfunction. But the best part about chiropractic care is that it can help speed your body's natural healing and recovery process if you do get hurt.

Love Your Exercise

Stay safe while you work out, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic regularly, and improve your overall well-being and quality of life in the process! By following the simple tips above and establishing routine chiropractic care, you will find that exercise can be something to love!

To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Houston, Tex.