You already know that exercise benefits your health in many ways. Regular physical activity improves your mood, helps you sleep better, and makes it easier for you to maintain a healthy weight, notes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
However, any type of exercise increases your risk of injury. And if you’re overexercising, you may have a higher chance of developing a joint injury.
At Legacy Pain and Regenerative Medicine, our chiropractor, Dr. Trace Alexander is a sports medicine specialist. Though we encourage a healthy lifestyle, we want you to know some of the common joint injuries we see in people who overexercise.
For general health, adults need 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity every week (30 minutes five days a week) and muscle-strength training activity that works out all the major muscle groups two or more days a week.
Increasing the intensity or time you spend working out may lead to even greater health benefits, says the CDC. However, there comes a point when more exercise isn’t better. In fact, overexercising negatively affects your health.
So, when is the amount of exercise too much? If you’re working out the same muscle groups every day or you exercise to the point of exhaustion, then you may be overexercising.
When you exercise too much, you don’t give your muscles a chance to rest, recover, and rebuild. Ultimately, your overzealous workout routine leads to muscle loss and weakness that decreases athletic performance and increases your risk of injury.
Your joints connect two or more bones. Joints are held together by ligaments, tendons, muscles, and cartilage, and they’re the reason you can walk, climb, run, jump, and twist.
Regular exercise supports joint health by improving muscle strength and joint flexibility. However, when you overexercise, the muscles that support your joints weaken. Without adequate muscle strength, you may overstress the other components that make up your joint, resulting in an injury.
Common joint injuries from overexercise include:
With a joint injury, you may experience joint pain, swelling, and limited range of motion.
If you suspect you have a joint injury, you need to stop working out right away. Continuing to exercise may worsen the injury and prolong your recovery or cause another injury.
We specialize in sports medicine and recommend many therapies that support your body’s natural healing process, including:
In addition to healing your joint injury, we also design a fitness program that improves your athletic performance and reduces your risk of reinjury.
Exercise is good for your health. But like all good things, more doesn’t always mean better.
If you have a joint injury and suspect it may be related to your workout routine, we can help.
Call one of our offices in Plano or Addison, Texas, or book an appointment online.
