66 Part II: Enjoying Total-Body Health: Eating Well and Staying Injury-Free
Chapter 6 for details. Gentle massage is also useful for freeing up knotty neck
muscles. You can give yourself a massage, but somehow that isn’t as satisfy-
ing as enlisting a friend, significant other, or professional therapist.Ice, usually an injury-friendly treatment, isn’t always the best choice for neck
pain. If you’re stiff to begin with, applying ice may cause you to tense up even
more. If your trouble is a stiff neck, moist heat in the form of a warm wash-
cloth, shower massage, or whirlpool may be the way to go.Rotator-cuff injuries ............................................................................
What’s the capital of Belgium? If you can’t raise your hand to answer that
question, you may have a rotator-cuff tear. Throwing, catching, and lifting
your arm to the side may also be painful. (By the way, the answer is Brussels.)The rotator cuffis a group of four muscles that surround and protect your
shoulder joint (see Chapter 12 for details about the muscles in your body, if
you’re interested). They’re particularly delicate and susceptible to injury.
They can tear if your arm is violently pulled or twisted or if you fall with your
arm outstretched. But the most likely scenario is damage from repetitive
movements such as throwing, catching, swimming, and lifting weights that
are too heavy. Which movements cause pain depends on which rotator-cuff
muscle you damage and how badly you injure it. Rotator-cuff tears are often
the reason for the early retirement of baseball players and weekend softball
players alike.These injuries usually are treated with ice and compression (see the “RICE,
RICE Baby” section later in this chapter), plus strength-training exercises using
very light weights. Ease up on hard-core weight-training exercises, particularly
heavy bench pressing, both on a flat and an incline bench, and ask a trainer
to check your form. Reeducate yourself on throwing, catching, or swim
stroke technique — make sure to involve your entire body rather than just
your arm and shoulder. In some cases, the rotator cuff is too far gone to
strengthen through exercise, and the damaged muscle needs surgical repair
or, at the very least, physical therapy.Chafing ..................................................................................................
Your legs feel great, and you’ve barely broken a sweat, yet you can’t continue
your bike ride because your butt is rubbed raw. You have what’s essentially a
case of adult diaper rash, an irritation that can crop up anywhere your cloth-
ing touches your skin and is known as chafing.It’s particularly common in hot