5 Tips for preventing injury

I wanted to write a quick post on prevention and maintenance of injury. 

I guess I should say first that I am NOT a doctor. I'm sure there's some sort of stipulation where you have to say that. I am however, an experienced injured person. I am also a certified personal trainer and have taken all of the courses for an exercise science degree. So while I'm not a doctor, I'm pretty smart. 

Injury sucks. It's painful and de-motivating. It seems that every time you get into the groove of things, an injury creeps on up and takes you out of the game. It is critical that you deal with the issue correctly and head on, and if you do there is a great chance that you can get through it without much time lost. 

So here are 5 tips on how to deal with an injury. 

1. DITCH THE DRUGS

This is first and foremost the most important thing that you can do. When you come back from a long workout and you're sore as heck, your first reaction is to grab that bottle of over the counter and pop a few pills to ease the pain. Listen, if you didn't want to be in pain, your shouldn't have just ran 16 miles. But you did, and that's awesome and you should be proud. But when you take a pain killer, you are inhibiting your body to use its UNBELIEVABLE pain fighting army it has inside of it, always on guard, waiting for that perfect moment to strike. When you pop a pill you are telling that army, 'Don't worry, I got this' and they're just gonna to head over to the bar instead and get fat and lazy and useless. 

Let your body do it's job. Let your pain fighters fight the pain that is inside of you, allowing them to become stronger themselves, and instead of fighting them with a pain pill give them some love with lots of water, healthy food and rest. 

Research-

These powerful herbs that have been proven to be just as effective as over the counter pills and much less costly, waste producing and harmful to our bodies.

2. DITCH THE DOCTOR

Doctors are great people. They can perform surgeries, deliver babies, check out that weird mole that you just noticed, and set a broken arm. Owww... But they are O-V-E-R-U-S-E-D. Just like your injury. 

I see it all the time. People going to see the doctor because we have a pain in our foot. 

"I went for a run, my knee hurt, so I am going to see a doctor."

This may be one of the largest pet peeves I have. Unless there is something sticking out of your knee, there is nothing that a doctor is going to do for you that you can't do for yourself. NOTHING! He can TELL you that you need to stay off your knee for a week. He can prescribe you pills to mask the pain (SEE #1) and he can refer you to someone who is going to help you work it out (wait for #3...) But all of these things can be done on your own. YOU ARE SMART.

My dad, stubborn old man, taught me a lot; Don't worry... I'm not stubborn.......He broke his rib once (Angela...) Or at least he THINKS he broke his rib once. Everyone told him to go to the doctor and over and over again he said, "What's the doctor going to do for me. TELL me it's broken and send me home." He also didn't take pain meds, and since there really isn't anything a doctor can do for a broken rib, he took it easy till it healed. Which is what he would have paid the dr to tell him to do. 

Research-

So next time your knee hurts, try this. Grab a bag of ice, elevate your knee under a pillow on your couch, grab your lap top, type in K-N-E-E P-A-I-N I-N R-U-N-N-E-R-S, and watch the world that pops up in front of you. You will find videos and articles from certified professionals telling you exactly how to handle this situation. We all want someone to hold our hand in life and to tell us it's going to get better. We all want the doctors to fix us and the pills to work magic, but that's not how it is. Knowledge, dedication, and time. 

3. EMBRACE THE YOG

A while ago I started calling yoga, yog. I'm hoping it catches on because I think it's a sweet word. 

How many times have you told someone about an ache or a pain you have and they have told you to try yoga. And of course you think, 'well that person doesn't know what the heck they are talking about.' So you get a second opinion and they say the same thing. 

Yoga is the BEST thing you can do for injury prevention and treatment for any non-severe injury. It brings me to my next tip...

4. PREVENTION...STRETCH AND STRENGTHEN

Anyone who has talked with a professional about an injury will tell you your injury is caused my a weak this and a tight that and an imbalanced yada ya. It's very true. Think about it. If one leg is weaker then the other, and then you go pound on it for an hour your body is going to start to compensate and get all weird and that is going to cause your patella to get all weird and by the end of it all your going to be in pain. 

You need to stretch regularly as a runner. While I don't condone this, but EVEN if it's only 10 minutes after your run you hit all the majors then it's better then nothing at all. Stretching will start the process of working out any imbalances you have. (Try out #3)

I also recommend a foam roller. It's like, super intense stretching and about the laziest thing you can do. 

1. Turn on TV

2. Put foam roller on the ground in front of TV

3. Lay on foam roller

4. Wiggle around every once in a while. 

I mean really, what's your excuse. 

After you stretch all the muscles you need to firm them up. It doesn't have to be anything intense, and body weight exercises are plenty when it comes to injury prevention. This is why I like yoga. You will stretch and strengthen at the same time, and it works everything that you need as a runner perfectly. I always said, yoga and running go together like peanut butter and jelly. If your knee cap is sliding around inside your knee every time you run because the muscles that hold it together are weak, it's gonna hurt. So by taking some time and properly making those muscles that surround the knee cap stronger, it is going to allow them to hold your knee cap in place and then it wont move around anymore, and then it wont hurt anymore!

Research-

Try YouTube

5. EDUCATE YOURSELF

Knowledge is power. Or as I heard it in a seminar I went to, knowledge is potential power. 

We live in a world that makes it TOO easy to play dumb. I love to research. I'm a research junkie. I love to sit down with my computer and read that mass amounts of information that is put out there freely for our use on the internet. I'm sure I have a bachelors in Health and wellness by this point. So don't play dumb. If you love to do something, educate yourself about it. You don't pick up an instrument without taking lessons or at least picking up a 'How-to' book. Don't just run without learning about it. 

I find that runner's LOVE to talk about running. Take advantage of that. Go to a running store and ask them about your gait (your walk) and your running form. Go to a group run and chat up someone on the path. Jump on an online forum and ask a question. Take a yoga class, even if it's just for the knowledge. 

Put yourself out there. You never know what you'll get back.