When the weather warms up and the vacation season starts, you might want to dive right into all of your summer plans. However, summer activities come with risks for injuries if you’re not prepared.
Outdoor activities can be hard on your body, especially after a long winter indoors—but that doesn’t mean you can’t ride your bike or go swimming! These summer safety tips will help keep your summer fun and injury-free for the whole season.
1. Wear the Right Gear
Summer is a great time for various outdoor activities like biking, rollerblading, or skateboarding. These activities are all enjoyable, but they’re also all dangerous without the right equipment.
Wear a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, and closed-toe shoes before you grab your wheels. Helmets and pads are great tools for injury prevention because they help absorb and disperse the force of a fall, which reduces the likelihood that you’ll damage your joints or bones.
2. Exercise Caution
Some common summer injuries come from jumping into a new exercise routine without taking proper precautions. If you’ve been hunkered down all winter and suddenly start high-intensity aerobics, you could pull a muscle or damage your joints.
When done right, exercise can actually help ease joint pain. You should always warm-up and stretch before you do cardio exercise and start with low-intensity activities. Throughout the summer, you can work your way up to more intense exercise, but doing too much too fast is risky.
3. Know Your Depths
Part of swimming safely is knowing how deep the water is before you jump or dive into the pool. If it’s too shallow, you could easily hit your head diving or injure your feet and legs if you jump feet-first.
The bottoms of most pools are made of concrete, even if there are other materials on top of it. Hitting the concrete feet-first can cause joint pain or even fractures in the bones of your feet.
Ensure the water is at least four feet deep before jumping in and at least ten feet deep before diving. This will give the water time to slow you down, so you don’t crash into the bottom and hurt yourself.
4. Limit Flip-Flops
Flip-flops are an easy sandal to throw on for most summer activities, whether you’re walking to the nearest ice cream shop or heading to the beach. However, flip-flops can cause problems in your feet, knees, and hips.
These sandals don’t provide you with enough arch support and can even lead to scrunching up your toes to keep them on your feet. They’re also a poor choice for driving safely. They can fall off while you’re driving and get caught on the pedals, which can lead to car accidents.
5. Stay Shady
Finally, limit your sun exposure whenever possible. If you’re in the sun, use a high-SPF sunscreen, and drink plenty of water. Getting dehydrated can lead to many health problems, including fainting. Falls from fainting can cause other injuries, like back or neck pain. Keeping cool will help you avoid these injuries.
Follow These Summer Safety Tips All Season Long!
Following these summer safety tips can help keep your body healthy for the whole season. However, if you find yourself in need of medical care, Towson Orthopaedic Associates is here to help. Contact us for information on appointments and care options!
