The Athlete’s Guide to Injury

It's rare for a recreational or professional athlete to go through their athletic career without injury. Torn rotator cuff muscles, plantar fasciitis, sore lower backs and ankle sprains are all-too common – and athletes expect so much from their bodies that they’re bound to have an injury at some point. The trick is learning to avoid injuries whenever possible, and learning how to recover from one when they occur.


Two Types of Injuries
Injuries can be placed into two camps: acute and idiopathic injuries. If you have an acute injury, you can pinpoint the distinct cause of the injury. An example of an acute injury would be a broken leg that occurred from falling off a horse, or an ACL tear from being tackled during a football game.

Idiopathic injuries, on the other hand, develop slowly over time. There’s no one specific moment of injury. These occur from constantly practicing and competing with biomechanical imbalances. Over time these imbalances lead to injury. The injury creeps up on you, and your level of pain and discomfort increase over time.

A weak core can cause SI joint instability. A tight hamstring can rotate the pelvis, eventually causing a rotation torque on the back, which leads to back pain. Tight chest muscles and weak rotator cuff muscles cause the upper back and shoulders to round forward, which can cause pain in the upper back and neck. These kinds of injuries develop slowly over time due to biomechanical imbalances.

Unfortunately, the distinction between acute and idiopathic injuries isn’t always clear. Many acute injuries occur because of muscle imbalances, joint instability or ingrained neurological movement patterns.

A great example of this are ankle sprains. A chronic weakness of the muscles in the right ankle increases the likelihood that an athlete may roll over on their ankle and cause an acute ankle sprain.

That's why athletes should take precautions before an acute injury occurs, or an idiopathic injury manifests itself.

Tips to Avoid Injury
Have a health practitioner assess your movement patterns. Once they’ve pinpointed imbalances, have them put together a program that strengthens your weak muscles and stretches your tight muscles

Cross-train. With good reason, athletes spend many hours practicing their individual sport. But constantly practicing the same movement patterns trains particular muscles to become strong and others to become weak. I encourage athletes to strength-train all year round.

This is particularly true for endurance athletes like runners, swimmers or triathletes. They’re often guilty of doing hours on end of cardiovascular training while neglecting strength training – setting them up for injury. In the off-season, I suggest all athletes try participating recreationally in a different sport

Rest. Everyone, especially athletes, need periods when the body is allowed to recover. Without adequate rest, overuse injuries – as well as symptoms of over-training such as exhaustion and depression – can occur. Try for at least one full day off per week. Also, cycle through easy and hard weeks. Try for three weeks of hard training followed by one week of moderate training. In your moderate week, keep the intensity of your workouts but decrease the volume of your training by 30 – 40 percent.

Get regular manual therapy: massage, ART or graston

Train the smaller stabilizing muscles of the hip, knee, shoulder and back. People often ignore these muscles, which can be problematic, as you’re only as strong as your weakest link.

Training the Core

I suggest training the “core” muscles of the hip, abdominal region and the shoulder. People traditionally think of the core as the inner unit stabilizing muscles of the abdominal region. More recently, the rotator muscles have been referred to as the “core” muscles of the shoulders, and the internal and external rotators as the “core” muscles of the hip. This is because these muscles, like the core muscles of the abdominals, provide postural support.

Sample Exercises

Work the “core” of the shoulder with “External rotations”.
Lie on your left side with your right arm bent at a ninety degree angle and your elbow resting on your hip
Hold a small weight in your right hand. Keeping the 90º angle of your arm, rotate your arm so that your knuckles face the ceiling
Slowly lower down for four counts. Do 10 to 15 times. Switch and repeat on the opposite side
To work the “core” of the hips, try “lying side leg lifts”. Lie on your left side with both legs straight. Note: this exercise is easy if you lift your leg quickly and with no control. Imagine your leg weighs 100 pounds and lift slowly and with control.

Version 1: foot parallel. On side, lift your top leg up by using the bum muscle that lies behind the seam of your pants. Repeat 10 times
Version 2: toes turned in. Keeping the leg straight, rotate your thighbone in your hip socket so that your toe points downwards. Lift 10 times
Version 3: toes turned up. Keeping the leg straight, rotate your thighbone in your hip socket so that your toe points upwards. Lift 10 times
When Injuries Occur
The biggest mistake athletes make after injuries occur is jumping back into regular training too quickly. When you’re injured, take time to rest and recover. Without proper rest you’ll continually exacerbate the injury. Work with a healthcare practitioner and use the injury as a learning opportunity. Figure out any weaknesses that may be your limiting factor. Use your recovery time to strengthen your weak links and before you know it you’ll be a more well-rounded, injury-free athlete.