Your Health: On the run from COVID? Workout tips to prevent injuries [Sponsored content] – Kinston Free Press

By Jim Ware| Free Press Correspondent

COVID-19 transformed many of us into work-at-home parents/teachers, virtual students and near prisoners in our own homes as the pandemic wore on.

Along with this transformation came injuries one might expect to see in the gym or on the playing field as many of the homebound turned to exercise to alleviate monotony.

Dr. Dimitri Thomas, a fellowship-trained sports medicine orthopedic surgeon who recently joined UNC Orthopedics and Sports Medicine at Lenoir, has some advice for those whove recently taken up running and other activities.

Thomas served nine years in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, where he saw soldiers training for fitness runs suffer from preventable injuries.

Everyone was always running to get their time down, but running on hard surfaces like pavement, I always tell people, is pretty bad on your knees, he said. So, if you are going to run do it on softer surfaces like trail running or grass or something like that.

Thomas tells patients that if theyre looking for cardio workouts, they should try elliptical machines, stationary bikes, rowers, or swimming to avoid the significant impact on knees that comes with running.

Those who arent running are jamming state park trails in North Carolina, including hikers with little to no experience and inferior footwear.

What youre most likely to see there are ankle sprains, Thomas said.

Uneven ground could lead to people rolling their ankles, he said.

If people have a history of that, they may want to take some precautions of either getting a lace-up ankle brace or making sure they have a good high-top hiking boot that can secure pretty well, Thomas said.

Injury prevention is in the preparation, he said.

One of the long-term things is making sure all those ankle muscles are strong and theres a good neuro-muscular balance, Thomas said. Thats why for people with ankle sprains we do a lot of physical therapy and rehab.

Before any exercise, warming up and stretching are important, he said.

As people get older, the warm-ups, especially first thing in the morning, are important because things just arent quite as limber as when they were 18 or 19 years old, Thomas said.

Typical injury therapies for pandemic exercisers and weekend warriors are meniscus and rotator cuff repairs and bicep tendonitis treatments, he said.

Those are some of the common things we always try to treat first without surgery and try some physical therapy, Thomas said, because a lot of times people do respond pretty well to that or it can at least delay a surgical intervention until a more convenient time.

Weight loss, while sometimes the goal of exercise, also is good preventative medicine, he said.

Weight loss is even more effective at preventing and stopping knee pain than a knee replacement, Thomas said. Thats the only thing thats essentially been shown to have a 100 percent success rate.

What I tell people is when youre running and jumping, the amount of force thats going through your knee and hip joints is basically eight times your body weight. The more weight you lose, the more youre unloading your joints.

As a person loses weight through exercise, their muscles become more toned and their nerves fire better, he said, meaning he or she is less likely to be injured.

Another aspect of life during COVID is that high school football players are beginning winter workouts in anticipation of a spring season rather than the traditional fall schedule. While players adjust to the new timetable, some conditioning aspects remain the same, Thomas said.

The biggest thing is making sure everyone stays hydrated, he said. Youre not thinking of that as much because its the winter, but you can still become dehydrated. When youre not properly hydrated, thats when you get all these muscle cramps and muscle injuries.

Also on the must-do list for high school athletes are proper warm-ups and cardio conditioning, Thomas said.

One of the common procedures frequently performed in sports medicine is reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), a previously career-ending injury for athletes.

There are people getting back to basically full activity, he said. I always tell people surgery gets you back significantly to a much-improved functionality, essentially close to 100 percent. But I always tell them we can never make you the way God made you the first time.

Along those lines, Thomas said he doesnt view treatments for patients as one size fits all.

I like to listen to what people have to say and try to figure out something that works for their particular lifestyle, he said. Sometimes that means continuing with an extended nonoperative course and sometimes it means doing surgery. No two people are the same.

Robert Enders, president and CEO of UNC Lenoir Health Care, said the hospital is fortunate to have a surgeon of Thomas caliber on the medical staff.

This addition to our surgical services line further demonstrates our commitment to provide our region with outstanding healthcare, Enders said.

About Dr. Dimitri Thomas

Completed medical school in 2008 at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical School in Dallas.

Completed his orthopedics residency at William Beaumont Army Medical Center/Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, El Paso.

Completed his sports medicine fellowship at the University of Missouri.

Joined UNC Health Care and UNC Physicians Network in 2021 to provide care and treatment of sports-related injuries in Lenoir County and surrounding areas.

Has advanced knowledge of physical conditioning, soft tissue biomechanics, performance and health, and field evaluation.

Will advise injured athletes, help to coordinate medical and sports activity, educate and counsel on injury prevention, and provide general orthopedic care and surgery.

Source: UNC Lenoir Health Care

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Your Health: On the run from COVID? Workout tips to prevent injuries [Sponsored content] - Kinston Free Press