Learn what overuse injuries are, why they occur, and what you can do to fix them.
What is an overuse injury?
An overuse injury is pretty much exactly how it sounds. You ended up overloading an area of your body through a particular activity or combination of activities and this has resulted in injury.
This can happen for a number of reasons but often times the cause is more complex and possibly multifactorial.
Why did I develop an overuse injury in my leg?
To answer this question let’s dust off that old high school physics book (if you still have it and let’s face it, you don’t). You may remember being taught that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
This is absolutely true when we walk, jog, or sprint. When we take a step, we are exerting a force on the ground. The ground is also exerting a force back through us (equal and opposite). This is termed the ground reaction force.
A changing ground reaction force:
Whenever you take a step, or even stand still for that matter, the ground is exerting a force through your body.
The force is constantly changing. For instance, the ground rection force gets larger with more intense activity. Stand still and the force is relatively small, walk and it goes up a little bit, jog it goes up a little bit more, sprint and it goes up even further.
The type of surface we walk or run on makes a difference too. Harder surfaces will produce more ground reaction force while softer ones will produce less. Think about running on cement vs. running on a dirt trail. I’m sure you noticed that the trail feels softer and easier.
The type of shoe (or lack thereof) makes a difference. Shoes with more cushion will reduce the ground reaction force just as running barefoot will increase it.
So why not just wear super cushiony shoes and run in mud?
There is always a catch and here it is: with all things being equal a softer surface will make you slower and a harder surface will make you faster. A shoe with more cushion will make you slower than running barefoot. Think about sprinters, they don’t wear big cushiony trainers, they wear slim track spikes.
So, what does all this have to do with injury?
Thanks for hanging in there with me.
This could start to explain why you may have noticed pain after a particular run. Maybe you ran a different loop and the surface was harder. Maybe your shoes having been wearing out and they are no longer giving you that little bit of extra shock absorption that you needed.
These are a couple of the possible external variables that could have sparked an overuse injury.
There are however some intrinsic reasons why this happened as well.
Your body must be able to control the ground reaction force
This is where a lot of problems begin. Back to physics…
Remember your body needs to be able to meet the ground reaction force when you move. In a perfectly balanced, mobile, and strong body the force will be equally taken up and distributed throughout the joints, muscles, and tendons.
But what happens if, let’s say, your hip is a little weak?
Well in that case something else along the path will have to take up the slack. This could be around the knee or the ankle for starters.
Let’s just say for the sake of examples your quad is the muscle that makes up for your weak hip…. Do you see where this is going? Can you say runner’s knee(chondromalacia patella) or patellar tendinopathy?
Or maybe it’s your foot or ankle. Hello plantarfascitis, Achilles tendinopathy, or tibialis posterior syndrome.
Typically, it tends to be the large muscles that aren’t pulling their fair share of the load and the poor little muscles get beat up as a result.
You can fix it.
Even though the problem likely started without you even knowing, there are ways that you can fix it.
Here are 3 tips to get you back on track:
1.) Cut down the intensity of your activity to a level that is non-aggravating. There isn’t necessarily a reason to stop altogether. You just have to bring it back down to a level that your body can handle. This likely means cutting the intensity and/or duration of your exercise.
2.) Get stronger in your core, glutes, and quads. Add two to three glute and quad strengthening activities 3 times a week to your routine.
3.) Build back slowly. The safest return to activity is at an increase of 5-10% (either intensity or duration) every week. If you have time be conservative and progress slower at a 5% rate, do it, your body will thank you.