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Injury Prevention: Don't neglect your nutrition

on January 19, 2017

INJURY PREVENTION: Don't neglect your nutrition

In general, food is often neglected or overlooked when, in fact, it should be the cornerstone of your routine. As an athlete, your body requires certain nutrients so that it can be prepared to perform at its best. That being said, don’t ever go out and grab the first diet/nutrition plan you see.

Everybody is different and so are athletes. What works for one may not work for another. I believe that having a customized nutritional program is your best bet to ensure that it’s tailored to your specific needs and your particular sport involvement.

Often poor nutrition is the cause of injury, and this type of injury doesn’t go away all by itself. These are the injuries that linger and you may never feel the same again if you don’t take proper action. Injury can also lead to chronic inflammation, which results in further injuries that your body can’t repair properly.

Its far more critical than you know

In short - make sure that you eat the right foods. It’s far more critical than you know. If you don’t have the right nutrients to perform your energy levels will be low, and you may sustain an injury. If you don’t have the proper nutrition, it will be more difficult for you to recover after exercise or injury. If you get hurt and your nutrition doesn’t feed your cellular structure, the tissue can’t be repaired and that may lead to a whole slew of other problems. If the tissue doesn’t heal properly, it can’t perform at its optimum, and optimum performance is what you strive for in your sports involvement.

Then, when you try to push yourself through your routine exercises, like you always would, you might end up hurting yourself. Damaged tissue is an injury. When it comes to food, getting what you need, and getting it at the right time, in the right form, can help you avoid injury. If you do get hurt, the right food can help in the reparation of damaged tissues.

by Dr. Thomas M. Mitchell, D.C., CCSP | Owner, Clinic Director Chicago Institute for Health and Wellness Copyright © 2013

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