• Start your fitness program after consulting your physician or health-care professional.
• Always choose low impact exercises like cycling, swimming or walking. You can later graduate to racket sports or aerobic dance as your fitness levels improve.
• Follow fitness norms like warm up, stretching and cool down.
• Select your footwear carefully. If you are running wear running shoes. For tennis there are specific tennis shoes. Do not compromise on footwear.
• Pay attention to your playing or running surface. Avoid uneven, hard or wet surfaces.
• Seek services of a coach or trainer to inculcate correct styles and techniques. Remember that a bad tennis backhand action is disastrous to your elbow.
• Protect yourself from the sun and drink water before, during and after exercise.
• Listen to your body. A tired body sends signals. Do not ignore them. You could avoid a lot of overuse injuries by timely rest.
• Strengthen your muscles, which are required in your sport. A golfer needs to perform regular back exercises and a tennis player should not forget to develop strong shoulders.
• Do not neglect niggling problems. A stitch in time saves nine. Consult your sports medicine doctor if any pain persists for more than a week or any abnormal sounds come form your joints or there is restriction of movement. Do not take any chances.

In spite of all precaution if you happen to sustain an injury remember the SPORT-AID formula. R.I.C.E.
The R.I.C.E. formula is used for any acute injury in sport till qualified medical help arrives. RICE is important to save an injury from becoming worse.
RICE stands for

R for rest. Rest today to play another day. When in doubt rest.
I for ice. Apply ice and cool the injury to avoid swelling and inflammation.
C for compression. Tie an elastic crepe bandage to minimise the swelling and inflammation.
E for elevation. The injured part should be elevated so that gravity helps the veins to reduce the swelling.

DO NOT MASH.
M for massage. Massage is good for relaxation but not for injury treatment. Massage increases blood flow and can aggravate the inflammation and effects of injuries.
A for activity. Activity can increase the severity of injury and convert a mild one into a disabling one.
S for anesthetic sprays. Disasters have occurred after use of pain killing sprays after injuries. Pain is protective sensation which tells us to rest. If pain is abolished by the spray one tends to use the injured part and aggravate the injury. I have seen partial ligament tears being converted into total tears after using the spray and continuing the game.
H for heat. Heat is good for aches and pains not arising from injuries. Heat increases the inflammation after injuries and should not be used in the first 48 hours after injury.
Fitness and sports are sources of great pleasure and fun if injuries are prevented. One needs to take the necessary precautions and make a habit of drills like warm up and stretching. One should not get into a competition situation while exercising, where you want to out do some one. There is no point in proving that you can do more sit ups or lift more weights than somebody else. Stick to your fitness plans and forget what others are doing.
State of art injury management techniques like ARTHROSCOPIC surgery or LASER in physiotherapy; have greatly reduced the recovery time after injuries in sports. Advanced Orthoses and protection devises like the tennis elbow brace or an arch-support- insole-footwear also go a long way to help the fitness enthusiast.
One must seek professional help and sort out the injury problems early before they cause irreversible damage.

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