Photo by Jesper Aggergaard on Unsplash
If you are active, aches and pains happen. But if you keep experiencing the same ones over and over again, then something is off. Here are three common reasons you can’t seem to shake an injury.
1. Faulty Movement Patterns
We spend a lot of time in chairs. We sit at the breakfast table, at the office, at the dinner table, in the car. We also spend a lot of time slouching—over the computer, over the phone, over the newspaper. As a result, we just don’t move all that well. We’ve got tightness, we’ve got weakness, we’ve got poor brain to muscle connections. When we work out with all those movement dysfunctions, parts of the body get overloaded and eventually break down. Once that has happened you can get the pain to go away by taking some time off, applying some ice, maybe even popping some anti-inflammatories, but in the end, as long as the bad movement patterns remain the injury is likely to come back as soon as you start moving again.
Related: Five Fundamental Movements That Can Save Your Joints
To fix the problem, you need a movement specialist. It is not enough to treat symptoms, the actual movements themselves need to be restored. Physical therapists are probably the most common stop and if you are having trouble, you should see one. Personal trainers can also be movement specialists. They can help you work on movement patterns after your primary treatment. They can also help you identify and fix movement patterns that have not yet created an injury, but might in the future.
2. Doing The Same Thing All The Time
Since the body is very adaptive, it conforms to whatever you are doing. That’s a great thing, however, we must remember that the body is not one-dimensional. The human body is designed to move in many different ways and complete many different tasks. If we are over-killing one, then that can lead to adaptations that interfere with other necessary movements. Take cycling for example. When you cycle, your quads get very stong and your hips get comfortable spending a lot of time flexed. That’s great for peddling a bike, but not so great for standing up straight. The adaptations on the bike end up making it hard to maintain good posture, which can lead to pain in places like the low back, hips, knees, and even shoulders.
Related: Proper Posture And Why It Matters
To fix the problem, you need to balance out your body. If you spend a lot of time exercising the front of your body (like cycling), then you need to plan extra work for the back. Strength training is usually the best way to target under-trained areas because you can focus your efforts directly towards what you need with just the right intensity.
3. Working Out Too Much
Yes, some of us work out too much. In our society, where exercise is deemed to be highly praise-worthy, it can be very easy to overlook this simple explanation. Especially for cardio lovers—runners, cyclists, group fitness regulars—it can be easy to over-do it. Sometimes the healthiest thing your can do for your body is give it a rest.