CrossFit is a very popular, high –intensity workout program where participants perform repetitions of Olympic lifts such as squats and power cleans, which require near perfect form to prevent undue strain. The popularity of the exercise has resulted in an explosion of CrossFit branded affiliate gyms around the world, approximately 10,000 gyms by 2013.
According to experts, the primary reason CrossFit can be dangerous is that with such high repetition, ensuring one has proper form becomes critical. But particularly in the competitive environment often found in CrossFit gyms, form can sometimes go out the window for the sake of winning, resulting in a greater risk of injury. This is especially the case for those who do not want to reinjure an already weakened joint or other body part.
Grant Davis, in his article “Is CrossFit Killing Us? The CrossFit backlash is in full swing – led by a long list of injured participants,” published in Outside Magazine in December 2013, stresses three things in particular: the importance of good technique regardless of what the people around you are doing, working around one’s individual weaknesses, and staying within your limits. Davis quotes Robert Hayden, DC: “If you have a pre-existing condition – an old AC tear, tendon damage or a slipped disk – this kind of exercise will bring it to the surface,” says Dr. Hayden.
If you would like to read the article, please click here: http://bit.ly/1bVFXHd. Anyone who knows anyone doing CrossFit will tell you it can be a blast, and a killer workout. So be smart!
If you have questions, or aren’t quite sure about proper technique, just ask! Dr. Michael Herb is a Diplomate of the American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians at Absolute Wellness Center in Eugene, OR. He would be happy to talk with you about proper form and injury prevention and any other questions you may have about sports medicine. What’s important is that you get to keep doing what you love, and that you do it in a way that keeps you healthy and active for the long term.