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Coming back from injuries

11/11/2013

6 Comments

 
When it comes to injuries...my approach has always been to train through them as much as possible.  In other words...do as much as you can without undue pain or damage...and, in the meantime, hunt for solutions.  I'm not big on total rest as a prescription for injuries...mostly because I haven't had much success with it.

Back in 1982...I had my worst injury.  I was out close to a year with illiotibial band syndrome...at least that's what they called it.  I rested and rested and rested and absolutely nothing happened.  What's really strange is that the injury switched from one knee to the other without me really doing anything.  Weird.  I saw all kinds of medical personnel and they always prescribed rest.  Finally, I saw Dr Phil Maffetone. After one week, I was back running.  After a month I was at 70 miles a week.

Dr Maffetone helped me get a few bones unstuck and a few muscles activated...but he also gave me advice that no one else gave me.  He wanted me to start running immediately.  He did not want we running to the point of pain...but it was fine to be sore, have some discomfort ans seemingly aggravate the injury. He explain that you need to keep asking the body to get better and that muscles will basically "turn off" if you don't use them.  

Since then...I have always implemented an active approach to injury recovery.  I can't tell you how many little "niggles" I've worked around simply by slowing down...or using a combination of walking and running, ....or walking on a treadmill at an incline...and so on.  I should also add that I never use aspirin or drugs of any kind and always try to get to the root of the problem. 

It seems that there may even be some research supporting this method of coming back from injury...as described in this article. The research does not suggest that one should ignore injury and bull through as if nothing is wrong.  However, it does suggest that mild pain is OK and gives some guidelines to follow.

One of the good things about training through an injury...provided you are sensible...is that you keep most of your fitness...so that when you do get your injury sorted out, you do not have a long period of trying to rebuild your fitness levels.

If you happen to have a setback, don't let it throw you.  Stay calm and unwavering.  Just do what you can. Keep giving your body a bit of motion...whatever it can reasonably handle. It needs that.
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6 Comments
Gary Steinel
11/14/2013 12:22:57 pm

That was a tough injury, coming as it did after your best marathon and when you were in peak condition. A surprise nugget that came from Runner's World-Go to Extremes, run very hard or very easy to reap the most benefits. Otherwise you run harder than you should on easy days and not hard enough on hard days and drift to midlevel efforts.

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Paul
11/15/2013 06:01:20 am

Hey Gary,

Yeah...it's hard not fall into the trap of doing the same every day...especially making the easy days moderate...which forces you to make the harder days moderate. I have a feeling this becomes more of a problem the more experienced you are.

Bye for now,
Paul

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Jonathan Piers
11/15/2013 05:56:13 am

Hi Paul...
Nice information on injury... Need to keep it in mind going forward

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Paul
11/15/2013 06:02:50 am

Jonathan,

You belong in a separate category having been hurt so long. Hope you get things sorted out soon.

Paul

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michael
11/19/2013 09:43:42 am

Thanks for the encouraging post. I'm q 65 yr old male whose been running for about 55 yrs. Have had an achilles issue for the past 10 months...it simply won't resolve. Over that time I've been working on an elliptical and a spin bike to keep my cardio fitness up and fairly high levels(eg. 50 min on elliptical with HR over 88% for 40 min.-high resistance/low cadence...156-58 range).While the achilles issue is improving, it's very slow in doing so. Just prior to the injury hill work), I ran a 21:11 5k, so fitness at this age was pretty decent. I'll just keep plugging away (haven't run a step for 9 weeks) and maybe by the Spring I can reintroduce myself to actually running.

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Paul
11/19/2013 10:26:23 am

Hi Michael,

After 55 years of running, you've probably learned every trick in the book. A 21:11 5K at your age is excellent.

Sorry about the injury. Lately...my favorite alternative exercise is walking on a treadmill at a steep incline...15% usually. I usually keep my heart rate in the 70-75% range when I'm hurt because it seems the lower stress levels allow the body to heal itself a little better.

I've healed a number of calf problems with the incline walking...but it might not work with the achilles. Then again...you would think it would aggravate a calf injury...yet for me, it never does. So who knows? The incline walking loosens up the calves and the plantar fascia in a very gentle way...and those are very good things for the achilles. Also, walking up a steep hill is very close to running. Here's a good article about it: http://running.competitor.com/2011/01/workout-of-the-week/workout-of-the-week-steep-uphill-treadmill-walking_19898

But as the article says...it can be hard on the calves and achilles...so only you would know how it feels. I thought I'd throw it out there as something to consider and maybe give a very cautious test.

Thanks very much for visiting.

Good luck,
Paul

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