Amanda Wilde (Host): Welcome to the Kirby Connections Health Podcast, where we help you nourish your wellness journey with Kirby Medical Center. I'm Amanda Wilde, and in this episode we'll talk about injury prevention for all ages with Athletic Training Coordinator and CrossFit Coach, Crystal Green. Crystal, great to have you here to talk about this healthy living essential injury prevention.

Crystal Green, MS Ed, BS Athletic Training: Thanks for having me. Happy to be here.

Host: To the heart of our topic, what are the most common home injuries across different age groups and how can they be effectively prevented?

Crystal Green, MS Ed, BS Athletic Training: Well, I think for kids, it varies just depending on things, falls and things like that. But if we're looking at more of the adult population and elderly, I think it's more backs and shoulders and things that we don't always tend to warm up before we do a chore or something like that at home.

 So backs and shoulders are probably the most common. On occasion, we'll see ankles too, just getting around the yard or doing landscaping or things like that on those unstable surfaces, we kind of see some common ankle injuries too.

Host: And can you explain the role of ergonomic design in preventing workplace injuries and maybe some practical examples?

Crystal Green, MS Ed, BS Athletic Training: There's a lot of ergonomic desks and chairs and things like that now. And I think Kirby really takes advantage of that and a couple of other organizations I've been with as well. But those things just help to put your body in a good functional position and try to be able to make you comfortable in holding those positions for a long period of time.

 Thinking, obviously with mostly seated office type positions and things like that are more of our behind the scene folks rather than necessarily nurses and doctors on their feet. But even then, that kind of brings to mind different mats and flooring and things that could be considered ergonomics too.

Host: And really we can't underestimate the effect those ergonomics have on us day to day to day.

Crystal Green, MS Ed, BS Athletic Training: Yeah, it's one of those things that it helps you day to day, but then long term as well. I think that you can see that if you use those over the long-term, sometimes you may work out of an injury or just not have the same aches and pains that you would have if you didn't have access to those.

Host: Now for prevention, how does proper warmup and stretching specifically help in injury prevention during everyday activities like gardening, lifting kids?

Crystal Green, MS Ed, BS Athletic Training: I think if you could get into the habit of some type of stretching, maybe even in the morning, those type of warmups just help get joints, especially kind of primed for certain movements and maybe even more unexpected movements. I'm thinking things like twisting in the back and even shoulders and stuff like that, with picking up kids, that are squirming around. If you've stretched and kind of warmed up, even if it's something as easy as marching in place or reaching for your toes. Different things like that when you're not under load can really help you be ready to be under load, whether it's gardening or picking up kids.

Host: And when we're talking about recreational activities such as cycling, hiking, or swimming, what are the key injury prevention strategies for those activities?

Crystal Green, MS Ed, BS Athletic Training: I think with those it's more of just volume and how you ease into an activity like that. Those are fun. Pretty low stress type activities, on your body that can really help keep you healthy, especially as, as you're aging or something like that. But the problem that we may run into is you go out and you bike 15 miles when you really should have maybe only biked two to five, to start off.

So allow your body to make those adjustments over time. I use the term weekend warrior. Try to avoid that weekend warrior status where you just go out and put all your marbles in one game or, something like that, and then you end up paying for it later, or maybe even getting injured, more than just soreness or something.

Whereas if you can be consistent with something and slowly increase that volume, your chances of injury are a lot less.

Host: And that sounds like something that would be true for everyone, but as you alluded to earlier, how do injury prevention recommendations differ between children, adults, and the elderly?

Crystal Green, MS Ed, BS Athletic Training: Like we said, it does vary a lot. Prevention for kids is mainly just teaching them to move correctly I'll say, you know, in a functional way. Try to teach them early with movements like squatting and different things like that, how to do that rather than build bad habits.

And then as far as adults, similar things. You just, take into consideration where they are in their journey. I try not to use age as much just because here at the gym even at the hospital, we have some pretty fit people, t hat age doesn't really matter as much for them. But you really just have to consider where they are and get that baseline of an idea before you make any recommendations there.

Host: So it sounds like injury prevention strategies can be personalized. And so how can individuals assess their personal risk factors effectively?

Crystal Green, MS Ed, BS Athletic Training: I like to base that more on if you've had any past injuries or limitations set by a physician for one reason or another, and go from there. I'm thinking kind of the back and shoulder again. Have you had any surgeries, any car accidents or things like that where we may set up some of those limitations?

Still get you through as much as you can, and think of that lifestyle and living how you choose to, but safely at the same time. Another one would maybe be wrists, even wrists or ankles, back to those joints that we use often with daily chores and stuff like that. Even get braces and things that allow you to still be functional and safe, but protect those areas.

Host: We talked about ergonomic design specifically at work, but are there specific protective equipment guidelines that are recommended for recreational or home use to prevent injuries?

Crystal Green, MS Ed, BS Athletic Training: Yeah, I think with a lot of that to prevent falls would be things like thresholds. Make sure that there's not bumps and things. Easy transitions between rooms. With steps, make sure they're a are good height. Something manageable for kids and or elderly. And then also with those areas, potentially railing and stuff like that allows for that assistance and help with balance.

 And then maybe even in the bathroom, you know around the stool and showers and stuff like that. Any type of handrails can be very helpful for balancing and allow for those ergonomics at home.

Host: Those are great tips, Crystal. And I was just going to ask you that if there were some easy to implement changes that can be made to make homes safer, especially for elderly family members, is there anything you want to add to that list?

Crystal Green, MS Ed, BS Athletic Training: Those rails especially, but knowing your limits as well. I think that's one thing that's hard no matter what age you are especially if you're living alone and different things like that. I'm thinking with the elderly is just don't try to do too much. Be willing to ask for help and use those assistive things like rails and different thresholds and get out ahead of things to help with that prevention even when you may not think that you're at that point yet.

Host: Yeah, so really keep your expectations real and always keep moving. Well, Crystal, thank you so much for all of this great information and the great tips for injury prevention that'll help us keep living our best lives.

Crystal Green, MS Ed, BS Athletic Training: Thank you.

Host: Crystal Green is an Athletic Training Coordinator and CrossFit Coach at Kirby Medical Center. For more information, visit kmcactive.org. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out our entire podcast library for topics of interest to you. Thanks for listening to Kirby Connections Health podcast presented by Kirby Medical Center.