Ease into exercise to avoid injury

Spring is here, and the weather is warming up! It’s a great time to be getting back into some exercise programs. BUT, if you are someone who hasn’t been very active over the winter, be careful of the dreaded return to exercise mistake of, “TOO MUCH, TOO FAST, TOO SOON”!

You’ve just gotten keen for that regular gym class, run, walk or weight training, and suddenly halfway through your session you feel knee pain, a hip niggle, or pain around the heel area! It goes away when you stop, just to return next time you work out….and worse. Or maybe you have pain in these areas that seems to settle once you get into your workout, only to return after!

You’re back in the swing of exercise so you don’t want to stop, but that pain is not going away! If this sounds like you, you might be developing an overuse injury.

Getting back into exercise after a time away from it is a great thing, but needs to be managed well. Not only do muscles have to get used to the extra stress placed on them (and get bigger in the process!!!), but joints, ligaments and tendons also must adjust to the extra work. Returning to exercise too quickly, increasing weight or distance too fast, technique errors, old injuries and biomechanics can all contribute to too much force coming through particular muscles, joints, ligaments and tendons and lead to overload, inflammation and “overuse injuries”.

Rather than stopping exercising, a visit to the physio might be what you need to get on top of the problem. Maybe you simply need a gait analysis, exercises modification, technique correction, specific muscle strengthening or core stability training. With a bit of help and advice, “overuse injuries” don’t need to pull you up totally but are easier to treat in the early stages.
So if you are someone getting back into exercise after hibernating over the winter….be careful of doing, “TOO MUCH, TOO FAST, TOO SOON” – pace yourself, warm up well, increase slowly, stretch, and if that dreaded niggle bites ….. make a physio appointment early so you can stay on track and keep exercising.