How Cross-Training Can Help You Prevent Injuries and Chronic Pain

Yoga, Pilates, and stretching are all great cross-training options. Photo via Visual hunt 

There’s a reason why every sport has its own group of common injuries. Tennis elbow and shoulder injuries are rife in tennis and golf. Plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinitis, and shin splints take center stage in the world of running. Whenever you put specific areas of your body under a constant level of strain, you invite injuries. Of course, that doesn’t mean you should give up your beloved sport and spend your days binging on Netflix. Instead, incorporate cross-training into your workout routine.

Cross-training simply means adding different exercises and activities into your workout routine that take the emphasis off of the joints and muscles you use most in your primary activity. Are you a runner who spends your days putting constant pressure on your feet, ankles, knees, and hips? A great cross-training option is to add two days of cycling, swimming, or weight training into your workout routine.

How Cross-Training Helps Prevent Injuries

Years of regularly practicing a single sport or activity can wear down the primary joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones that you use in your sport. Additionally, you may ignore stabilizer muscles that are critical to helping you prevent injuries.  

Cross-training allows to take the pressure off overused muscle groups my introducing new methods of training, and also gives you the chance to strengthen stabilizer muscles. Many athletes cross-train by lifting weights and working on improving core strength, a key stabilizer system.

Cross-Training Can Help You Break out of Plateaus

Cross-training can also make you a better athlete! Putting your body through a different training regimen will force it to adapt by getting stronger in different areas. For example, strengthening your core may give you better balance and more overall strength. Perhaps swimming increases your cardiovascular endurance and strengthens different muscles in your shoulder. A lot of athletes discover that adding cross-training to their fitness routine two days a week can pay big dividends out of the field.

While cross-training can help you prevent future overuse injuries, it can’t help heal old and nagging injuries. For that you need to use the SCENAR. Only the SCENAR uses electrical pulses to reprogram your cells to begin healing again. While it works best on new injuries, it CAN heal most old injuries too, even if you’ve had them for years. You don’t have to give up on your favorite sport or physical activity when you use the SCENAR.