Health & Performance Tips for Track & Field Athletes

Hoag Orthopedic Institute Sports Medicine Surgeon Myra Trivellas,MD, shares health tips for track and field athletes looking to stay healthy and maximize their on field performance.

1. Beware of Overuse Injuries: A lot of track and field injuries center around overuse, so optimizing your cross training and recovery is key to your performance.
2. Key to Performance: Active warmups, dynamic cooldowns, giving your body enough rest, proper rest and nutrition.
3. Common injuries in track and field: stress fractures, tendonitis, and sprains and strains. A lot of it has to do with overuse injuries so it is important to make sure you are not running through a sore muscle or practicing or doing a full workout if your body is fatigued.
4. When to stop: It is extremely important to listen to your body and if you need to cross train that day or change up your workout plan, then do it. If the soreness persists then it’s important to bring that to the attention of your coach or athletic trainer to ensure the injury does not get worse.