Triathlon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Triathlon - Essay Example Many of the enduring triathletes prefer to be resilient to pain and tend to carry their impacted and sometimes senseless (without knowledge) injuries throughout each race till to the finish line. Medical cover is to be arranged at the finish of an Ironman event taking place at Lanzarote in early October. In order to achieve adequate medical support and care, health issues that are common to triathletes must be outlined. Ironman at Lanzarote is considered to be one of the most arduous, all-terrain event for any fittest and able-bodied triathlete. The Ironman event is expected to include three major sub-events consisting of 3.8km swim, 180km bike race, and 42.2km run to the finish line. Any appropriate medical cover can only be provided by priori understanding of different types of illnesses or injuries based on previous therapeutic experiences and gathering of medical information from past records seen in other Ironman races. Most triathletes naturally undergo rigorous cross physical training and are less likely to develop any kind of muscle imbalances. An issue with many young, amateur and firt-time triathletes is that they usually underestimate their fitness level and skill such that they may be good in one event but that does not automatically translate into adaptation for another. All bodily injuries can be classified as either internal or external fatalities. The latter injuries may be knee injuries, wrist fractures, sore toes and blisters, cold shoulder and other injuries from improperly adjusted bicycles [16]. Only a small amount of competitors experience this sought of external injuries. One of the more common medical problems is the triathlete sustains a bad sunburn a few days before the actual race. A serious and unattended sunburn (such as a second degree burn with blisters) can have a damaging effect on how the body is able to adjust the coherent body temperature and sweat loss during exercise. This naturally decrease the ability to control body temperature and sweating can have a negative impact on the triathlete's race outcome. Most injuries that befall triathletes are overuse injuries such as tendonitis or muscle strains, as opposed to acute ones (like when fall of a bike and bruise something). While overuse injuries are fairly common among triathletes, they are relatively easy to prevent and treat, if they are careful. The most effective way to prevent overuse injuries is to prevent and reverse the muscle imbalances that contribute to most of them and allowing the body to have sufficient time to properly recover from any stress developed during training. Through the nature of the postures and repetitive motions involved, triathletes tend to develop particular imbalances that are associated with particular injuries. To correct imbalances, they need to stretch muscles that tend to become shortened through training and strengthen muscles that tend to become weakened. Triathletes should frequently stretch their calves, hamstrings, hip flexors, lower back, neck, and chest, and should regularly performing func tional exercises that strengthen the hips, butt, abdomen, upper back, and shoulders [3, 7, 16, 20]. Tendons and muscles need to have adequate time to recover fully from increases in training to especially prevent chronic injuries. Poor technique is also associated with a majority of