Bouncing Back From Fitness Injuries

While exercising may be one of the best things you can do to increase your overall health, working out incorrectly or doing too much too soon can lead to injury. Here’s what do if you get hurt and how to prevent injuries in the first place.

By Deborah R. Huso

You think you’re pretty fit. You exercise regularly, eat right, and make sure your body is getting the vitamins and minerals it needs to perform at its best. But that doesn’t make you immune to injury. Trained athletes suffer fitness injuries all the time. You could be susceptible, too, and perhaps you’ve already suffered back pain or a sprained ankle during the course of your exercise program.

So what do you do to bounce back? Doctors and physical therapists agree you need to give yourself time to heal, but that doesn’t mean giving up exercise in the meantime. It does mean taking care of yourself, however, and sometimes the best thing you can do for an injury is evaluate how it happened in the first place.

The Most Common Fitness Injuries
Among the most common fitness-related injuries is back pain. “Lower back pain is the second most common reason people go to a doctor,” says Dr. Todd Schlifstein, assistant professor at the New York School of Medicine and attending physician at NYU Medical Center. “Usually it’s caused by muscular back strain,” he adds. Even people who are physically active are not always attentive to strengthening their back muscles, and weak muscles are a primary cause of injury during exercise.

Knee pain is another common side effect of exercise, particularly among women. “Patellofemoral pain syndrome results from the knee not tracking properly on the bone,” Schlifstein explains. Women who run or engage in other impact activities are the most likely to suffer from knee pain and injuries, often because the wider pelvis and hips of women cause a misalignment of the knee with the femur bone, which runs from hip to knee and is the longest and strongest bone in the body. Ankle and foot sprains and fractures are also common in women.

“Impact loading and soft tissue problems are usually related to overuse,” says Dr. Richard Lampman, director of surgical research at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a member of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).“Exercise is what breaks down muscle tissue,” he explains. “The body regenerates to make itself stronger, but you have to let the body engage in that process.” He says many people injure themselves while exercising because they are forcing their bodies to do too much too fast.

According to physical therapist Dr. Lynn Millar from Andrews University in Michigan, muscle weakness and imbalance can increase the potential for injury. “An individual may be fairly fit,” she says, “but she may fail to have a program that is balanced and works some of the smaller stabilizing muscles or muscles that contribute to motion.” Women who do not eat properly as well as those who smoke or suffer from osteoporosis are also at higher risk for fitness injuries.

The Best Way to Recover
If you sustain a fitness-related injury, the first thing you should do is put ice on it to reduce the swelling and inflammation that causes pain. Millar cautions that you should limit sessions with an ice pack to twenty minutes.

And while some general practitioners may recommend keeping your injured body part immobile while it heals, this isn’t always the best advice, nor is taking pain killers such as ibuprofen. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) can actually slow healing, Millar says. She recommends gentle motion in the area of the injury. “A general rule of thumb is that the activity should not increase the amount of pain or swelling,” she adds.

After the first forty-eight hours, Schlifstein says, you can usually start using warm heat. “Heat helps muscles relax and become more flexible,” he notes. He doesn’t recommend stopping physical activity altogether, especially if you want to stay in shape while recovering. “Depending on what area of the body is injured, you may have to limit or change activities,” he says.

If you’re suffering from a knee injury, it’s best to stay away from running, but cycling is a good alternate exercise that doesn’t strain the knees. Swimming is also a good way to stay fit, as the water takes weight off the injured joint or muscle tissue. “An alternate program is a must,” says Lampman. “You can exercise every three days and still maintain your fitness.”

While there’s really no way to speed recovery, people who have strong cardiovascular fitness before an injury generally get better faster, Schlifstein says.

Preventing Future Injuries
Of course, the most important thing you can do is prevent an injury from happening in the first place. “Often we get an injury, put a band-aid on it, and don’t go back and examine why we got hurt in the first place,” Lampman points out. “We need to ask ourselves if we’re engaging in proper biomechanics.”
For example, you can suffer pain if you don’t stretch enough before or after exercise. Muscle strengthening is also important for preventing injury, as is performing exercises correctly. Schlifstein says it’s not a bad idea, even if you can’t afford a personal trainer, to get some advice from staff at the local gym to make sure you’re doing exercises correctly and using exercise equipment properly.
Lampman says a fitness injury can often scare a person away from exercising or at least from the activity that caused the injury. “Don’t stop exercising,” he warns. “Correct what you did wrong.”

Lampman says a lot of knee and hip pain and injuries are caused by improper pronation of the feet. He notes that most people walk like ducks with their feet pointed outward. “If you’re having knee pain, try walking a little bit pigeon-toed to take the pressure off your knees and hips,” he says.

In addition to paying attention to biomechanics, you should also add variety to your exercise program. “A lot of people walk or jog because it’s easy and cheap,” Lampman says. But doing the same thing every day is a sure way to overwork and stress your joints and muscles.

“The best way to decrease the likelihood of injury is designing a balanced program,” explains Millar, “which includes not only cardiovascular training, but also resistance and flexibility components.” For example, you may jog one day, but swim or bicycle the next. Even if you don’t have access to a pool or a bike, you can still vary your program by walking uphill one day and then walking more leisurely on a level space the next day.

“Start out at an appropriate level,” Millar adds. “Don’t progress through a program too rapidly.”
Lampman says he has had patients who have believed they could train to run in a marathon in three months. It’s just not realistic. “Keep things in perspective,” he says. “Don’t increase your exercise level more than ten percent per week.”

This is especially true if you’re new to an exercise program. “The muscles and joints take time to adapt to the increased stresses of a new program, and changing the load too rapidly can cause things like tendonitis or stress fractures,” warns Millar.

“You need to respond to what your body is telling you,” Schlifstein points out. “’No pain, no gain’ isn’t always true.”

Deborah R. Huso is a freelance writer based in Blue Grass, Virginia. She frequently writes about travel, agriculture, wildlife, the environment, and outdoor recreation.