If you have ever broken a leg, you know how terrible it is.

Fortunately, there are some precautions and recommendations which can help us prevent leg injury from happening in the first place.

They tell you to break a leg when they mean for you to do well. This anachronistic word of encouragement is the exact opposite of what anyone actually wants to do. The leg injury is awful at every level. And it is something all too many people have done at some point in their lives.

The Department of Health in England, 2002-03 saw 89,313 hospital consultant episodes for fracture of the femur. Another horrifyingbroken leg statisticis that 79% of those hospital visits resulted in hospital admission.

We all have to be more concerned with good leg health as we only have two of them. And going from two to one is a loss of much more than half our functionality. One motivator for taking better care of our legs is to gain a better understanding of what can go wrong.

Many of the bad things that happen to our legs, such as leg injury, are down to bad luck and random chance. But there are ways we can improve our luck and take fewer unnecessary chances.

Here is a brief look at a few of the things that can go wrong, and what we can do to prevent leg injury and pain:

Loss of Mobility Due to Pain and Weakness

There are manytypes of knee replacement. All of them are the solution to a problem, not the problem to be avoided. The problem in which knee replacement serves to fix is the loss of mobility due to pain and weakness.

The thing that mostly triggers a knee replacement is too much cartilage loss. It doesn’t grow back. And there are many things we do to speed up that deterioration.

Sports is one of those things that can cause leg injury and shorten the life of your knees.

Here are some of the worst offenders:

  • Wrestling
  • Football
  • Baseball
  • Basketball
  • Tennis

These are all obvious culprits. If you did any of these activities as a child, you already have some sense of the damage that can be caused.

With some sports like football. You only need to watch. 300 lb men hunkering down on their knees every few seconds just before a burst of violent activity is going to wear down some cartilage.

If you want to prevent leg injury, do such activities in moderation. And always wear proper safety equipment.

Strains, Sprains, and Pulls

All of that muscle and bone is held together by ligaments and tendons. They are elastic and fragile. The wrong kind of stress can cause strains, sprains, and even breaks.



For the most part, the body can heal these things with very little intervention. But it is going to hurt. That is when your doctor will be weighing options. You can prevent leg injury, including strains and pulls, by simply stretching before and after a workout.

Give yourself a proper warm up and cool down period.

Think in terms of a balloon which is also elastic. Before attempting to blow it up to its maximum capacity, you take a moment to stretch it out this way and that. You may even blow it up a little, then release the air. Some will do that a few times before going for it all.

The soft parts of your legwork much the same way. With a little care, must such leg injuries are preventable.

One Step at a Time

One Step at a Time - Prevent Leg Injury & Pain

Proper leg care is done one step at a time. It starts with the feet and ankles and goes up from there. Common foot problems such as plantar fasciitis can be extremely painful, enough to severely throw off your gait. That altered step can cause pain and misalignment all the way up your spine.

This is another one of those tendon problems that can be treated with specific kinds of stretching. There are inexpensive braces you can wear at night that can do wonders. You will often find knee and hip pain resolved with a better pair of shoes with proper orthotics.

It is surprising how often a problem with your leg and lower back begins with a treatable problem in your feet.

Your legs are the key to your mobility. So take care of them by treating your cartilage like a nonrenewable resource. Don’t skip the stretches and warmups.

And treat your feet as if your legs depended on them, which they most certainly do.

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