Overuse injuries in the lower body often come in the form of ankle, shin, knee or hip pain every time your land from a jump. This is most common amongst runners, athletes with multiple training sessions daily, and weekend warriors. The discomfort may linger on even after your exercise session. This could mean that you have been putting too much weight or impact on your legs within too short an amount of time, or without adequate recovery. Whether you have experienced this before, or have defaulted to running or jumping to online videos for exercise during this COVID circuit breaker period, it is crucial to nip this in the bud. Here are some strategies to get better:
- Rest: From pounding activities like running or jumping. Instead you can switch to resistance training, cycling, indoor ergometers, bodyweight exercises, pilates etc.
- Strengthen your muscles: If your muscles are too weak to carry your bodyweight, imagine 2-8x your bodyweight hammering through your already wounded body as you run or jump! A simple intervention may include calf raises, squats, and muscle stretches or release.
- Skills training: Work on techniques and movement/postural form Eg. Ball juggling, tennis swings, rehabilitative exercises, which can help you transition back to pre-injury condition better.
- Progressive loading: Ensure lighter loading before getting back to full action. Eg. Short, pain-free sessions of walk-jog intervals before building up gradually to your pre-injury volume and intensity.
- Endurance before load increments: Build up duration/ mileage before speed, or building strength up before jumping, which involves higher amount of weight and impact pounding through your legs.
- Listen to your body: Pain is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong! Some discomfort and soreness could mean your body is adapting to your training, but with sharp, persisting or intolerable sensations, it is probably a tell-tale sign to seek help!
- Periodization: Have a good weekly plan, where you fit in sessions of recovery or low intensity trainings amongst the hard ones.
- Be holistic: Having adequate sleep, nutrition, as well as adopting good warm up and cool down strategies can definitely help prevent such injuries and even improve your performance.
If you’re not sure of what kind of injury you have or the suitable treatment method for your discomfort, call us now! We can kickstart your recovery through our teleconsults, and follow up with face-to-face therapy after the circuit breaker period!