Tread warily on the treadmill

On Monday, Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu’s wife, Nara Bhuvaneshwari, slipped while running on the treadmill at her residence and fractured her right wrist. Earlier this month, Dave Goldberg, the CEO of SurveyMonkey and husband of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg also fell off a treadmill during a family vacation and passed away because of severe head trauma. TV actor Abir Goswami, who had appeared in many Hindi soaps, had also suffered a massive heart-attack while he was on a treadmill a few years ago, and passed away.

Given these scary examples, doctors and fitness trainers speak about the dos and don’ts while using a treadmill and the precautionary measures that ought to be taken by middle age people while exercising.

Get yourself checked first
Dr Nithin Kumar, an orthopedic surgeon and a sports injury specialist from Yashoda Hospitals says that an ECG or an Echocardiogram is mandatory for anyone in their middle age who wishes to work out on the treadmill.“It is advisable to walk on the treadmill at least three times a week. One can even stop at five minutes if their heart rate has reached 140-150.”

Service your machine
Dr Nithin adds that especially for people working out at their homes, special care must be taken to use the treadmill regularly and also get it serviced. “Otherwise it might stop working all of a sudden or work at inconsistent speeds which will eventually lead to injuries. I would also advice middle aged people that when it comes to a calorie reducing device, use an elliptical, a stepper, a cross-trainer or the best option  the cycling machine  because the treadmill also affects your knee joints and that could lead to arthritis.”
 

Know your threshold
Dr J. Anish Anand, physician at the Apollo Hospitals adds, “A person’s threshold for exercise decreases with age. And that’s why it is important to not overdo anything  be comfortable and enjoy your workout but stop if your legs start aching or you feel that you are losing your balance. Start from a lower speed, and increase only according to your convenience.”

Undergo tests
Fitness trainer Kunal Gir suggests a blood test before starting a regime as it helps in understanding the underlying internal factors which makes our body work.“It is also crucial to do the structural analysis of a person  to find how their body is aligned, how it moves and positions itself to understand the limitations and train someone accurately.”

The right diet
“Diet also plays an important role while exercising, especially for someone in their middle age because if there is no intake of nutritious food, the body is bound to have issues with recovery and the muscles, which get tighter with exercise, will not get repaired. Instead, knots will form which will in turn affect one’s mobility greatly,” says Kunal.