Feature July 2012: Listening To Your Body To Prevent Injuries

Listening To Your Body To Prevent Injuries- By Physio Erin Georgeson

How often have you heard someone say: “It’s ok, it’s just a niggle”; “Suck it up, you’ll be right”; ’I’m fine, I can push through it”; or “That pain/stiffness will just go away”. Does this sound like you??

As a physio, we hear these comments regularly from our clients. While in some cases it may well just be a ‘niggle’ that will disappear, the majority of the time these ‘niggles’ are actually a warning bell that something isn’t right. You feel it once, it goes away. You feel it twice and that niggle sticks around for a bit longer. It happens a third time and doesn’t settle. Then, all of a sudden, that niggle is there every time you train. Sound familiar??? Unfortunately, this story is way too common and, in most cases, these injuries could be easily prevented.

And the best way to prevent them is by simply Listening To Your Body!!!

I’m sure all therapists and athletes would agree that taking a proactive approach to your training will lead to better long term outcomes. For the average weekend warrior, having greater body awareness not only improves your technique and efficiency, but you will be more ‘in tune’ with how your body is responding to your training regime to maximise the benefits of training. Listening to your body and learning how to manage that niggle early on will keep you on track and help prevent those nasty injuries that keep you from training or competing.

With running season in full swing, some of the most common injuries we have treated recently include tendinopathies (what we used to call “tendonitis”) and stress fractures. In a broad sense we could refer to these conditions as overuse injuries, where the repetitive load going through the tissue is too much for it to handle. These are progressive conditions which will worsen with more load placed on them. If left untreated they can have devastating outcomes which may result in immobilisation of the affected area or complete rest form training. This is of course problematic when you have a goal or an upcoming event you wish to participate in. Unfortunately, people often don’t come into the clinic until they are in pain, at which point their training program is often interrupted. Overuse injuries take time to heal. If you have been putting up with that niggle for the previous 6 weeks, and it has progressively worsened to a constant pain, then it is safe to say it won’t clear up in a few days! The earlier you address your niggle, the sooner you will be back on track in training (and the less chance we have of being the bearer of bad news!).

A number of factors contribute to overuse injuries including: increased training volume; change of shoes; muscle imbalances; stiff joints and/or change of training surface. Over the past few months I have found myself regularly educating athletes on overuse injuries, why they occur and how they can be prevented and managed. Simply put, if you learn how these factors can affect your training and therefore impact on your body, you will have a more effective training program while avoiding any negative consequences.

Is it because you suddenly started exercising 5 days a week? Did you just get new shoes? Did you start running a faster 5km? Did you decide to push it out to 15km 3 days a week instead of 1 day? Have you had a previous injury? All these questions give us information as to what is going on and what action should be taken.

So, next time you have a  niggle what are you going to do?  Don’t just suck it up, push through it or plead ignorance. Talk to your coach/trainer or make an appointment with your physio. A good physio will do a thorough assessment to find the cause of the problem (something we do really well at Gold Coast Physio & Sports Health), treat the affected area/s and advise you on best management, including rehabilitation exercises and training modifications. If you are a novice, seek advice from a professional before starting training. If you are unsure of how your body is responding, make an appointment with your physiotherapist to discuss it.

So, the moral of this story is: prevention is always better than cure. Next time you next feel that niggle, don’t ignore it, listen to it and come visit us for advice!!!