Why exercise and exercise equipment injuries are #1 cause of injury and how to prevent.

According to the National Safety Council (NSC) in 2017 exercise and exercise equipment injuries were the number one cause of injuries of any type of physical activity and by a wide margin. There were 526,350 exercise and exercise equipment injuries. That was much higher than other types of physical activity that would be looked at as being more susceptible to injury such as football, soccer, hockey and recreational types of physical activity. 

I would feel confident saying that number hasn't changed much in the past 9 years. Why is that the case? Why do so many people get hurt and injured exercising? I think there are several factors. 

One is the majority of people have never been formally taught by a good, qualified health or fitness professional how to execute all the movements correctly. They just go into the gym and start working out and doing movements and exercises they have never done before and perform them incorrectly. The problem is they don't realize they are not doing them correctly and end up getting hurt. You could walk into any gym in the country and probably see 8 or 9 out of 10 people doing exercises incorrectly and with poor form and technique. 

Another reason is most people don't really know how to exercise correctly period. They don't know what exercises to do, how much to do, how often to exercise, how to handle increases and progressions, etc. When someone gets sick, they go to a doctor. When they have legal trouble, they go to an attorney. When it comes to exercise and fitness most people think they can do it themselves without any guidance, support, structure or proper instruction. It is probably one of the reasons 97% of people who lose a significant amount of weight while dieting regains it back and or more within 3 years. They don't know how to do it correctly. 

Perhaps the biggest reason I think most people get injured exercising is they don't know their starting point, limitations, if they have muscle imbalances, movement issues, and what exercises to avoid. This is where the need for a good, thorough fitness assessment and evaluation comes into play. The biggest reason for a good assessment and evaluation by a good, qualified, health and fitness professional is to help you design a safe and effective exercise program and strategy and ensure you don't get hurt or injured exercising and working out. 

If you want to ensure you don't become one of the statistics getting injured while exercising fill out the contact form and respond back with a "YES" and I will schedule a time for an assessment and evaluation with you and help you ensure you stay injury free and don't get injured while exercising. 

Dan Eiden