SPORT MEDICINE

Health check before sport | Start sport with eye measurement and training intensity | Adapt sport to climate and environment | Ensure proper nutrition and hydration | Adapt sport to age and medication| PDF Sports Medicine

The sports doctor advises: Sport keeps you young and fit. Regular sport leads to feeling better, being more resilient and looking better!

Health check before sport

• Especially beginners and returners over 35
• In case of lack of exercise and/or overweight
• In case of pre-existing conditions or complaints
• For risk factors: smoking, high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes
• Regular preventive care, including sports medicine, helps to avoid damage

Starting sport with a sense of proportion and training intensity

• Start slowly and increase load (intensity, frequency, duration)
• If possible, initially with guidance (club, running club, fitness studio)
• Get a pulse rate from your sports doctor, train with a pulse watch.
• Information at the Landessportbund or Sportärztebund
• Target: Three times a week for more than 30 minutes each time or more than 2.5 hours per week.
• Don't forget to warm up and stretch
• Avoid heavy overload during sport (sport should be fun!)
• After sport there may be a "pleasant" exhaustion
• Better "longer or looser" than "short and violent".
• Allow sufficient recovery time after exercise
• Plan "relaxed" training sessions after intensive training
• Sport break for colds and illness
• Gradual onset after sports break
• Prevent and heal injuries, because injuries need time
• Pain is a warning sign from the body (no fit shots)
• Do other sports temporarily to compensate

Adapt sport to climate and environment

• Clothing should be appropriate and functional
• Observe air exchange, adapt to weather conditions
• Cold: clothing warm, wind-resistant, permeable to perspiration
• Heat: Clothes light, reduce training, hydrate!
• Altitude: Reduced resilience, adapted clothing and drinking behaviour
• Air pollution (e.g. ozone): Reduce training, training time in the morning or evening.

Ensure proper nutrition and hydration

• Diet high in carbohydrates and fibre, low in fat ("Mediterranean")
• Adjust calories to body weight (overweight: fewer calories)
• Fluid loss after exercise: compensate with mineral-rich water
• Drink more in the heat!
• Remember: Beer is not a sports drink!
• But: A glass of alcohol (wine, beer) is allowed occasionally!

Adapt sport to age and medication

• Sport in old age is useful and important in almost every respect
• Versatile training (endurance, strength, mobility, coordination)
• Adapt medication, timing and dose to sport

Sport should be fun

• The "soul" laughs at sport: movement and play are pleasure
• Variety in sport is important: change the sport more often!
• More fun with sports in a group or in a club

Sport in everyday life too

• Climbing stairs instead of a lift
• On foot or by bike to the mailbox, to work, to appointments
• Fast walking is sport!

(Contents modified according to the Section for Sport for the Elderly, Leisure and Sport for the Elderly of the DGSP)