TRAINING THRU INJURIES
You?re hurt? You can?t find a magic bullet cure? The one
who loves you most says, ?give it a rest,? but nooooo, ?I am an athlete, I?ll
get better on my own.?
If that sounds like you, you may need more help than anyone
can give, but I?ll do my best. First of all, 2-3 days rest will not impair your
conditioning; in fact you?re probably run down from over-training anyway, so
give yourself at least that much.
In all likelihood, you will eventually get better; nature
is so kind that in spite of ourselves we will heal. But repetitive use of every
step (walking or running) is antagonistic to the healing process, and depending
on the type and severity of injury, that repetitive stress can lead to more
critical injury e.g. a stress fracture or at the very least slow down your
healing process even to the point of disabling you so that you are forced to
heal.
To maintain a training regimen following an injury:
-Continue daily stretching.
-Cross train--it is the single best thing you can do.
-Massage and heat the area daily. There are some topical
anti-inflammatory and deep heat creams, (apply ice only when the injury is
fresh).
-If you feel you must run, keep it to 25%-33% of normal or
run in a swimming pool (this happens to be an excellent training adjunct, even
if you?re not injured)
-Elliptical trainers or ?Versaclimber? are excellent.
-Maintain upper body strength (you should have upper body
strength to run too).
Remember, your pain is a pronation injury secondary to arch
movement, so at the very least, get a good over-the-counter support to use as
much as possible. Most of them are good; as with anything, some are better
suited for you, so trial and error may be necessary. I like ?Sof Sole,?
?Superfeet? and my personal favorite is a ?Spenco?- ? length orthotic.
Use some kind of anti-inflammatory in the evening (not
before you run, if your body wants to warn you of something, don?t mask it)
AND once you feel better, do not just start in full blast
again. Give yourself another 1-2 weeks before going back to 100% pre-injury.
Injury and inflammation are like boiling water, it doesn?t take as long to bring
water back to a boil if it?s still warm.
|