Baby boomers are winning kudos for getting in touch with their inner superwomen. Unfortunately, after they take the bike out for a spin or trot off for a run, they're likely to go somewhere else; the emergency room.

That's the word from the U.S. Consumer's Products Safety Commission, a federal agency that tracks sports-related injuries among adults age 35 to 54. Turns out, lots of women are spending time at the doctor's office instead of on the basketball court or soccer field. Leading the list of sports that send women to the injured reserve are bicycling, running, skiing, and in-line skating. And although most of these injuries were minor, all of the bruises and sprains added up to nearly 90,000 injuries in one year—a 42 percent increase in the past decade.

Ouch. Why the sudden rise? "I have the feeling that these folks don't realize they're getting older," says CPSC chair Ann Brown. "They need to take more precautions."

Ah, the truth hurts. But the trend doesn't mean that you're destined to suffer from boomeritis. "Most of these injuries are preventable," says Robert Stanton, an orthopedic surgeon at the Yale University School of Medicine. "A lot of times, people just need to know why they get injured so they don't do it again. To keep them from being sidelined, Stanton offers the following tips.

• Don't be such a stiff: Warming up is especially important, since our muscle tissue becomes less flexible as we age. Take a few minutes to walk before slowly streching your back and legs.

• No head-banging, please: The study found that only 43 percent of boomers don bike helmets—a troubling stat since adults are twice as likely to die from a head injury as kids are. And remember to use wrist, elbow, and knee pads when in-line skating.

• Don't race to your goals: Increase your activity in time increments of no more than 10 percent per week. And don't be a weekend warrior and pack all your activities into two days.
  ["Steering Clear of Boomeritis", Health, Vol. 14, Number 6, pg. 30, July/August 2000]