2023-10-26 08:38:51
It’s summer and vacation time. But in the dog days we cannot forget to do physical activity. Both the The pool and the beach provide us with a perfect opportunity to exercise our heart, muscles and joints.
Swimming is considered one of the most complete exercises that exist and in which large muscle groups move. In fact, during his practice activate up to two-thirds of the body’s muscleseither. It is suitable for all audiences regardless of physical shape and produces benefits for the elderly, young, healthy or people with chronic illnesses.
What does swimming contribute to health? The truth is that swimming and other water activities –aquagym or other gymnastics that allow you to walk and move in the water – allow improve cardiorespiratory capacity, strength, endurance and elasticity. So all those who don’t know how to swim have no excuse: they can use the pool to do other activities in the water and notice health benefits.
“Toning and enhancing our elasticity“Swimming is a great cardiovascular exercise to keep the main risk factors at bay,” he details. Pablo Berenguelhead of the Sports Medicine Group of the Spanish Society of General and Family Physicians (SEMG).
Swimming: no impact on the joints
Miguel Del Valleprofessor of Medicine at the University of Oviedo, and editor of the magazine Sports Medicine Archivesexplains to Take carePlus that exercise in water “allows take advantage of buoyancy. This makes the impact on the joint system less” and, for this reason, Del Valle adds that it helps to improve the condition of the joints in those people with pathologies such as arthritis o osteoarthritisas well as in those who are overweight or obesity. And this buoyancy is even greater on the beach, of course.
Water allows us to eliminate the impact on the joints while we exercise creating gentle but important resistancewhich makes it highly recommended for people with joint diseases.
Yes indeed, This lack of impact means that it does not, like other exercises, prevent osteoporosis. However, swimming or water sports can be combined with other outdoor activities that involve exercises against gravity, such as lifting weights, walking, dancing, running… and that improve the density of our bones.
Xoán Miguéns, vice president of the Spanish Society of Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine (Sermef), adds that “water is denser than air and Allows you to perform exercise against greater resistance. Therefore, it makes the muscles have to work with a greater load than if they did so without any type of opposition. Is how to do a weight-bearing exercise that is very well tolerated, because water is a fluid. When we move inside it there is a very controlled, soft and protected resistance.”
It is also necessary to take into account the action of water on the body. If the temperature is warm, it helps the joints to warm up and the joint, muscle and soft tissues are a little more elastic. “In the playaas it is usually fresher, favors the drainage of blood vessels. Furthermore, water generates hydrostatic pressure gently and effectively on the body, and promotes decrease in swellingn. Being in the water facilitates drainage and blood circulation, and it is good to walk on the beach with your legs partially submerged, up to the knee or a little above, if there are no joint problems in the legs or spine,” he adds. Miguéns.
Get fit by swimming
Swimming in summer even allows people who lead a sedentary life can progressively get in shape. We must not forget that when swimming they activate muscles of both the upper and lower body, trunk and neck. It is good in every way and brings benefits for people with cardiovascular disease, respiratory system, varices, hypertension…”It is valid for all types of people because it allows you to get in shape, activate your joints, strengthen your muscles and improve flexibility. It is beneficial for health and especially for people who have difficulties doing dry exercises,” explains Del Valle.
But in addition to improving circulation and breathing, it also “optimizes neurological functions by launching brain connections in both hemispheres and keep our cognitive system active and coordinated”Adds Berenguel. And, as if the physical benefits were few, they also provides peace of mind and emotional stability.
Be careful with injuries
Yes indeed, it’s not worth jumping into the water just like that. The ideal is to start, like any other type of physical activity, with a small warm-up, and always stretch when finished. Nor should we forget that we must go progressively increasing the intensity to avoid injuries. “Swimming can cause injuries, like other sports, but that does not reduce the great benefits it provides,” says Del Valle.
Swimming correctly is a symmetrical exercise and it is essential take care of the technique doing so to prevent typical swimming injuries from appearing, such as swimmer’s shoulder when swimming crawl or freestyle, or brace kneein breaststroke swimmers, or some cervicalgias y lumbalgias. In this sense, Del Valle advises that people with a cervical problem not swim breaststroke because a neck hyperextension. The same would happen with the crawl, since the movement made to raise the head when breathing can cause discomfort. “Yes, they can be recommended as long as use glasses and tube so that they don’t have to turn their necks,” adds the professor at the University of Oviedo.
On the other hand swimming butterfly entails very high energy consumption, while swimming back has great benefits for postural attitude since “the muscles of the back and lower extremities are worked a lot and it is very beneficial for those who want to prevent and cure back problems.
If we have thought about using fins or hand paddles We must first get in shape so that these utensils do not cause overload and fatigue.
However, Miguens remembers that If there is a previous injury “it should always be the health professional who indicates a specific exercise to each patient. There is no need to self-treat. Exercising in an aquatic environment can be beneficial for a ankle sprain because water makes it easier for you to walk without fear of falling; for a Back pain in which no serious injury has been detected; for any mild musculoskeletal ailment; or to work those muscles that are more difficult to work, which are precisely those of the trunk, such as the back.”
Furthermore, when recommending swimming for injury recovery, one must also Take into account the person’s preferences, if they know how to swim or if they know how to do it well so that the rehabilitation is effective and not harmful.
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