WHY DID YOU GET INJURED? 3 REAL REASONS AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
It happens to a lot of people.
You get back into the gym after taking some time off during the holidays. Or you jump right in with both feet because you made a new year’s resolution to get in shape. At first you feel great and motivated but then one day you wake up feeling like you’ve been hit by a truck. After a couple days you begin wondering if it was a particular exercise you chose, if you did a particular exercise poorly, or if you just have a “bum (insert joint here)”.
You’re not alone. And you’re not hopeless. We are here to help.
Let’s be clear about some things first…
Peruse the internet or social media and you’ll probably find 101 reasons why you sustained an injury. Here are some of the most common.
You have a weak “core”.
You have weak glutes.
You have poor mobility.
You have poor technique.
You have a torn/broken/non-firing/misaligned body part or joint.
Do you see a trend? All of these “reasons” hinge on the fact that there is something wrong with YOU and infer that you need some special program or guidance from a movement guru to fix a problem that likely isn’t there or is a low contributor to the problem at hand.
And this isn’t an issue simply of semantics, but is supported in the literature that by and large those issues are not strong predictors of injury risk for the majority of non-traumatic injuries that occur.
So then why am I injured?
Here are 3 very real contributors to injury risk and what to do about them if you find yourself in a bit of hurt.
1. You were not sufficiently conditioned for the task you were attempting.
The holidays are a busy season. Most folks are traveling, dealing with fluctuating schedules, and likely spending less time exercising. Having one week off on occasion is likely not going to contribute to a significant deconditioning response, but taking the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas off certainly could. What usually goes through most people’s minds after the holidays are said and done is this need to make up for “lost time” and then use exercise as some sort of penance for the past month’s indulgences. Unfortunately, this creates a significant spike in one’s acute to chronic workload ratio and this sudden increase in activity has been linked to a higher injury risk.
The long term benefits of a slow and gradual introduction to activity outweigh the short term benefits of a sudden increase in activity.
The take home from this is to give yourself time to acclimate to activity. It’s great that you want to be more active - and you should certainly maintain that mentality. However, the disciplined and calculated approach will undoubtedly result in greater results over the long haul with a reduced risk of injury (which may only serve to set you back in reaching your goals).
The challenge with this is figuring out how much is adequate and how much is too much. These subtleties can take time to identify and are going to be different for everybody for a multitude of reasons. Our approach to this with clients is to take a well thought out history intake of activity, understand the individual’s responses to the activity, and to identify trends in the individual’s responses to any new activity adopted during the beginning of the injury.
2. Your recovery was not sufficient for your level of activity.
Sometimes your exercise routine is just coasting along. The program is intelligently designed, all your metrics and goals are being met, and you are sitting on top of the world in terms of your fitness. And then one day your knee starts to feel funny going up and down the stairs. Or your back starts to stiffen up during a game of basketball. Or your shoulder refuses to let you throw a baseball or football. The assumption is that if a program is properly designed then your risk of injury is relatively low - and that is very true. However, that’s only one side of the coin.
The truth is to really benefit from physical activity one must be able to recover from the energy expended. If the body is constantly going through a state of depletion without the adequate recovery resources eventually something will have to give. So, while the previous principle sheds some light on the idea of “too much, too soon”, the principle of sufficient recovery addresses injury risk from the standpoint of “too much, with too little”.
Prioritize rest, nutrition, and stress management above all else.
There are so many things out there for recovery these days - foam rollers, massage guns, electrical stim units, cryotherapy, etc. Peruse the scientific literature and you’ll find that the return on investment for these methods (and other passive modalities) is little to none from a physiological standpoint. Sure, they could have psychological benefits in the short term, but over time you will still find yourself insufficiently recovered to maintain the activity levels you so desire. Proper nutrition (adequate calories with sufficient protein intake, good sleep hygiene, and having a good (or “good enough”) handle on all of your daily stressors are the three things that will have the highest impact on your ability to recover from the physical activity experienced.
Sometimes life just gets in the way. Deadlines at work make getting good sleep nearly impossible. Remodeling your kitchen makes it impossible to prepare your usual healthy meals. A family emergency forces you to shift all of your mental and physical energy to a loved one in a crisis. All of these scenarios are going to have a great impact on your ability to complete and tolerate physical activity. These tumultuous situations are sometimes difficult to identify when we’re in the midst of them. A key principle in our evaluations with patients and throughout their course of care is identifying any holes in the patients recovery resources. Our priority is helping patients develop a proper ecosystem within themselves to ensure forward progress.
3. Bad luck
Not every injury can be explained. Sometimes, despite having all your ducks in a row, you still get hurt. No rhyme or reason, just an ache or a pain that lingers and becomes limiting to some degree.
Focus on identifying the most effective way to move forward
Don’t settle for gimmicks, tricks, or urban legends. Realize that this is going to be a process, and likely one that is longer than you would prefer. However, we can save time and generate the best progress towards your long term goals by sifting through some of the nonsense that exists and really focusing on those things that are most necessary.
This is a challenge for everybody, especially in times of great frustration or despair. Sometimes you need someone else to guide you through this process with a completely different lens. This is a cornerstone of our treatment philosophy - providing quality treatment for the intention of improved overall outcomes.
If you find yourself feeling a little out of sorts for whatever reason give us a call - we would love to help identify some of the contributing factors and help you strategize the best way to approach the activity you’re having the most trouble with.