Overuse injury? Do more
Overuse injuries cause pain and discomfort which, like all injuries, makes us move less. This is the natural response to allow our bodies time to heal. However complete rest isn’t the ideal solution. Healing may take place but it doesn’t prevent the issue from repeating later on.
Let’s take a keen runner who just took up the sport. A common injury is achilles tendinopathy, which, by definition is an overuse injury, as it happens when you run longer distances, more frequently than you are trained to do. Resting for a few days may get rid of the pain and you go back to running only to find the pain remains the same.
Adding in some dedicated calf strengthening exercises such as calf raises, gives the achilles much needed forces to direct the healing and strengthening. In strengthening the calf instead of just resting it you prepare yourself for the demands of running and helping prevent the injury from cropping up again in the future too.
As well as doing some strength work for the calf, continuing to run shorter distances is also advisable. So long as the pain is manageable, AKA not making you want to stop challenging the calf in such a way can add to the rehab. It will also make the return to ‘normal’ running smoother as you haven’t completely stopped.
This isn’t full proof prevention as there can be contributing factors to the overuse. Which is where an injury assessment can be useful to narrow down those weak links.
