The little secrets that help keep exercise injuries at bay
As I start to get fit, I become injured in a cycle of ever-diminishing returns. If I didn’t suspect this to be ageing, I’d think that it proves that exercise isn’t as good for one as it is made out to be.
Some people use exercise to mitigate the effects of ageing. Erma Bombeck wrote: “The only reason I would take up jogging is so that I could hear heavy breathing again.”
To be fair, you probably are feeling the effects of the old clock but some old clocks can tick for centuries, if they are serviced now and then. Exercise works and generally appears to slow down the effects of ageing — unless you are in a downward spiral of injury-induced diminishing returns.
In an article in the New York Times the findings of a study on mice are discussed. Exercise caused their little livers to pump out a protein that rejuvenates the brain, it was found.
When the researchers were able to isolate the protein and give it to the old rickety mice, “they gained the brain benefits of exercise without the effort of actually exercising”. A bit like an ageing Bombeck’s motivation to jog — but sometimes the destination is only as good as the journey.
The study concluded that even if a pharmaceutical version of the protein were to be created (a magic pill) and even if it were effective for brain health, it “would not recapitulate the benefits of exercise”, such as improved lung and heart health, better mobility and much more.
The last sentence reads: “But he hopes that, if future experiments in his lab with animals and people show consistent results, the substance might eventually help people who find moving difficult to think better.” There’s hope in that for millions of people who are immobile. But there are equally many mobile people who just need “to think better”.
Ageing changes the body and we have to adapt. As much as I believe in moments of madness that I am a fit, young 20-yearold athlete endowed with the wisdom of my true age, my sacroiliac ligament brings me back down to earth with a limping thud.
There are a number of reasons you keep getting injured, and a little common sense and a lot of patience will help you get to the bottom of it.
Don’t programme your training like you did when you were 20. Rest more. Always work on mobility. Warm up. Cool down. Buy a foam roller. Cross train if you can — overuse injuries are a dime a dozen. Just ask runners to talk about their knees, Achilles tendons or shins, cyclists to speak about their knees or wrists or swimmers and golfers speak about their rotator cuff injuries — among much more.
If your injuries tend to follow the same pattern, get assessed for muscular imbalances. This doesn’t just mean left and right or upper and lower — imbalances can cause issues with your shoulders, pelvic girdle, and more, that affect posture. Even if these are subtle, they can cause problems down the line.
My recurring sacroiliac pain was the result of tight hamstrings which affected the position of my pelvis. It came to the fore while attempting to break a personal record in a strength lift. When fatigue caused my exercise form to be more negotiable than the average metro cop, the compound effect sent me to rehab for months.
You’d think that as South Africans we would get used to the disappointment of being set back months or even years just when we finally appear to be making progress. Yet it hurts the same every time.
The good news is that many injuries can be prevented with targeted exercise, clever conditioning and common sense. Be realistic in how you programme your training blocks. The big picture matters more than reaching personal bests daily. Bombeck was right. Never give up on the quest to hear heavy breathing.
It’s nature’s elixir.