Overuse injuries treated with rest, ice, medicine
Once upon a time in my 20s, I played a great deal of volleyball. All of my friends were volleyball players, and I spent all of my free time with leagues and tournaments.
It was a great way to stay in shape, socialize and compete at a fairly high level.
As with most sports, volleyball requires a handful of similar movements to be done over and over‚ repeated motion that tends to produce overuse injuries.
Medial epicondylitis, aka golfer’s elbow, was my first serious overuse injury.
Volleyball requires a lot of arm swings with wrist flexion, which is what got me. The symptom was pain just at the inside of my right elbow. It worsened the more I played. Eventually I reached a point where I couldn’t even pick up a gallon of milk with my right hand.
After icing, resting and taking prescription-strength anti-inflammatories for weeks, the pain persisted. I decided to get a cortisone injection and lay off all activity — for a month. That worked.
Another time, when I lived in Texas, I suffered an overuse injury called patellar tendinitis. Athletes also call this jumper’s knee, as it affects players in sports such as basketball and (you guessed it) volleyball.
Repetitive jumping creates microtrauma on the patellar tendon — a thick band that contains the kneecap. All those tiny traumas add up to tissue damage and inflammation, resulting in severe knee pain.
As for other overuse injuries, the treatment involves rest, ice and anti-inflammatory medication. I followed this protocol for a few weeks, and the pain eventually subsided.
Probably I could have avoided my overuse injuries with proper training and sufficient rest. My mistake was failing to cycle my fitness training and volleyball activity in a way that would give my muscles (and tendons) enough recovery time.
If I knew then what I know now …
Learn from me and maybe you can avoid these nasty sideliners.
Sufficient rest is one tool for reducing injury risk, and proper training is another. Cut back on your heavy workouts during weeks that involve competition, regardless of the sport or activity. Fired up by adrenaline and determined to win, we players push our bodies to the max when we compete. If we then turn right around and do an exhausting workout, it makes us weaker.
During your competitive season, it’s important to keep training workouts light and to mix in a day or two of rest each week.
Also, address injuries as soon as they occur. A slight discomfort, when treated properly, could go away after a couple of days. If not cared for, the same discomfort can turn into full-blown tendinitis, or worse.
This week’s exercise is a training routine that is perfect for in-season workouts, as the intensity level is relatively low and it’s a total body challenge. The Burden Run is appropriate for many different sports or can be used for general fitness — it’s fun.
1. Grab a stopwatch and a medicine ball, sandbag, or a weighted backpack and head outdoors. Find a little trail that’s relatively flat.
2. While holding the medicine ball near your chest, begin jogging down the trail.
3. After 2 minutes, stop and perform 10 squat presses by squatting down and pressing the medicine ball overhead.
4. Continue running for another 2 minutes.
5. Stop again and perform 10 calf raises with the medicine ball extended overhead throughout.
6. This whole series counts as one rep. Do four or five repetitions.
The Burden Run is also particularly useful for those looking to compete in an adventure race. It will help prepare the lower body for the uneven terrain that typically accompanies adventure racing while preparing the cardiovascular system for the endurance demands. Enjoy!