It’s great to avoid the winter blues with fresh air and exercise – on the slopes abroad or a pop-up ice rink in town, or perhaps on the hills of the Downs. Whether you’re an experienced or amateur skater, skiier, snowboarder, sledder or hill-walker, here are some tips on how to avoid injury, and how to manage it if it occurs.
WRAP UP WARM
This is the number one piece of advice! It may seem obvious but it’s easy to underestimate how cold you are getting. Wear LAYERS, as air between the layers traps heat. Wear GLOVES and DRY SOCKS – if it’s cold the body diverts blood to our vital organs (lungs, heart, digestive system), so fingers and toes can get especially chilled. Wear a HAT (and scarf!) – considerable body heat is lost through the head. A warm body allows all your blood vessels and respiratory system to carry oxygen more efficiently to your lungs, muscle cells and brain, enhancing your performance in any sport.
DON’T SHIVER THROUGH IT
If you are shivering, you are cold! Don’t ignore the first signs of hypothermia, which can be fatal. Put on an extra layer, have a warm drink, jump up and down and get your heart working to pump blood round your body to warm it up. If you are still cold, get inside and warm up properly, rather than staying out. (See https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hypothermia/)
WATCH THE DRINK…
Winter sports are often a social affair, but do remember alcohol can make you feel warm, when actually you are colder than you realise. Alcohol dilates your blood vessels, blood rushes to the skin, giving the illusion of warmth but decreases your core temperature, may even make you sweat and can stop you from shivering. Alcohol also affects spatial awareness and balance and therefore your skill and judgement calls as you negotiate the rink or slope…
AFTER THE FALL…
If you do sustain an injury, SEEK IMMEDIATE MEDICAL HELP FOR:
- Any head injury – especially if any loss of consciousness, vision, hearing, speech
- Joint/muscle injury – especially if the pain is so bad that you cannot move the joint or put any weight on it
- Any loss of sensation/feeling in any part of your body, particularly in the genital/private parts region
- Any difficulty in breathing or pain on breathing
TREATING ACUTE MINOR INJURIES – AN ACRONYM DICTIONARY!
There’s a lot of advice out there on treating injuries such as ligament sprains, joint strains and muscle tears – it can get confusing. Here are some you may have seen:
- RICE – R = rest, I = ice (to reduce swelling and pain), C = compression (eg apply a bandage or taping) and E = elevation (raise the affected joint to above heart level so as to let blood and lymph circulate and reduce swelling)
- POLICE – P = protection (eg taping/support), OL= optimal loading (ie making sure you do not overstrain the joint/ligament/muscle more than necessary – this will change as the injury heals), I = ice C = compression, E = elevation
- MEAT – M = movement, E = exercise, A = analgesics (ie pain killers), T = treatment
Such “protocols” can be presented as one being better than another, but they all have validity and it is more about using the most relevant elements for your situation. RICE and POLICE are often useful in the very first stages, but for most injuries “rest” in the sense of keeping the body part still, should NOT be for an extended period, as healing of any injury requires bloodflow and for that, at least gentle movement is necessary fairly early on. Equally, applying ice restricts bloodflow which in the long-term also delays healing so why ice? Swelling is a natural healing response, bringing white blood cells and other healing chemicals to the area of tissue damage, but too much swelling may actually constrict the blood and lymph vessels! This is when ice can help, reducing extreme swelling to encourage circulation again. Use ice only for up to 20 minutes at a time and let the body come back to room temperature in between applications. Analgesics or painkillers can be useful in allowing you to gently move and indeed just to sleep which is another vital part of the healing process.
It’s always best to seek advice from a qualified professional on treatment, exercise and rehabilitation for the safest recovery.