Prevent Overuse Injuries

Here’s what most active people do:

They suffer overuse injuries.
60 to 70% of runners,
40 to 50% of swimmers,
80 to 90% of triathletes will suffer an overuse injury in the next year.

This is dumb because almost all overuse injuries can be prevented.

Overuse injuries, also known as repetitive motion injuries, result from using the same muscle group over-and-over-again causing repetitive micro trauma in muscle tissues to accumulate. If the repetitive motion continues day-after-day without allowing your muscles to sufficiently heal, the trauma grows bigger and bigger. And then one day the muscle doesn’t work or radiates pain. You’re injured.

Here’s why most active people suffer overuse injuries:

They ignore the many signs their bodies send them that their muscles are not being given the chance to heal between workouts. They ignore the signs that trouble is brewing in the bottoms of their feet, in their IT bands, in their knee joints, in their quads and hamstrings, in their elbows and in their rotator cuffs.

Almost all overuse injuries can be prevented if you detect them when they are small problems. Self-massage is an effective way to do just that. It forces you to focus on those areas of your body that need attention. In most cases, the attention you give them in the form of massage will resolve the problem while it is small before it becomes a full-fledged overuse injury in need of professional medical care and weeks or months away from training.

It is pretty easy, really.