Recently I've been feeling a little bit of pain in my right leg, particularly in the hip flexor. It's been one of those injuries that sneaks up and knocks your training plan out of whack, and honestly, it sucks! Overuse injuries are quite common, and for the most part, nobody sees them coming.
What constitutes an injury?
Being sore in a certain muscle group is something any person who exercises has experienced and is quite necessary for improvement. But at what point do you have to slow down and recognize when you're overdoing it? I had a baseball coach once who told me if you can point to a specific part of your body and say“this hurts,”that constitutes an injury. This is especially useful for arm and leg injuries—if one hurts and the other doesn't, there's something wrong.
Here's where it gets sticky: Your training plan is sidelined, but what should you still do and what should you avoid doing with an injury?
Do: Keep training
Movement can really help the healing process, as long as you aren't affecting the injured area. The trick is to get your heart rate up and the blood pumping without exacerbating the problem. For example, when you sprain an ankle, it’s perfectly OK to work out your chest, arms, back, core and any non-injured muscles as long as you're keeping your ankle static enough for proper healing. Just don't over train other areas because you can't train the injured site—you are going to need to take extra rest days to promote recovery for your injury.
Don't: Train unevenly
One time when I was in the gym, there was a guy with one arm in a cast doing curls exclusively with his healthy arm. This isn't exactly advisable and can lead to some strange imbalances far beyond the day your injury heals once and for all. If you've injured one side of your body, don't train only the other side until your injury heals. If you've injured your lower body, keep your upper body moving a couple times a week, but avoid training to the extent of promoting large imbalances in muscle strength and growth.
Do: Ice the affected area at first and perform some mobility exercises when you feel ready
Rehabbing any injury takes time. You may feel a little weird going to the gym for a half-hour just to warm-up, stretch and do a few range-of-motion exercises, but it's definitely a good idea if you want to regain full strength in the affected area.
Don't: Over-stimulate the injury
There's a fine line you have to toe with any injury: How much can you strengthen the area before you start overtraining again? It's much better to err on the side of caution in this scenario, because even minor injuries can develop into major ones quickly without warning if you overdo rehabilitation exercise.
Do: See a doctor, trainer or someone with medical experience
Some really insidious injuries can disguise themselves as overuse, and it's always a good idea to make sure, for example, your shoulder pain is just that—shoulder pain—and not a torn rotator cuff or other serious problem. It's never a good idea to diagnose these things yourself. Staying healthy should be your first priority, and knowing whether to take it easy for a couple weeks or buy an arm sling can make a big difference in the long run.
Don't: Ignore the problem
Once again, the distinction between a major and a minor injury isn't always distinguishable by the level of pain it causes, it's the reason behind the pain. Working through any level of injury is a terrible idea and will hurt your fitness goals both in the short- and long-term.
The line between helping and harming an injury further is fine, but if you follow these simple guidelines, I guarantee your road to recovery will be much less painless and, hopefully, less time consuming.
Want more tips on how to properly train while nursing an injury? Shoot Brett your queries at babachman@wisc.edu.
