injuries

SPECIALIST

SPECIALIST

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im dont understand why im always carrying some kind of injury wheather its a strained harmstring ,or torn muscle of my side, or back problems or whatever!!!
I eat all the correct foods, protein supps, vit c ,magnesium, multi vitamins, gym 1/2 only half an hour twice aweek as I want to do more but limited to always having the above,ride maybe 2 times aweek,i dont smoke, drink 4 glasses of wine aweek,low sugar diet.
Extremely frustrated from never being able to grow or improve in my fitness because of on going injuries of some kind.Help
 
Injuries seriously suck when you're committed to get fit and can sympathise with you there but they shouldnt be constant, how Old are you?
 
Do you warm up properly before exercising? Stretch afterwards? You may need to take abit more time in the preparation before doing anything very physical.

I sometimes get like a really sore quad or groin muscle when I don't warm up before heavy squats, or really sore shoulders when not slowly working into bench press...
 
speaking from an older rider's perspective - i'm 47 - injury is a part of what we do for our sport. we heal slower as we age, we are more likely to push ourselves to what we used to be able to do when we were 20, we recover more slowly and have higher expectations of ourselves.

i have learned:

warming up is essential.

i stretch every day, comprehensively.

i do better on a balanced diet full of whole foods, fresh veg and a decent amount of protein plus quality oils eg cold-pressed flaxseed, coconut and almond. i also make Kefir and use it in my amazing smoothies every day :becky:

i take magnesium in powder form (works better for me)

i came into my sport (bmx) with permanent injury from car and motorbike accidents so i've been aware from the beginning that i would have to work at staying race fit. having said that, it's been well worth it.


hit me up if you'd like my smoothie recipe :wof:
 
If the injuries are from training check form.
Not just proper form at the gym but proper bike fit and position and if you run wear proper running. Runic shoes. Having correct form and technique is going to give you he best chance to reduce injuries.
Other than that, it's just a matter of not over training or allowing proper recovery once you have a injury in the first place.
What type of injuries are you carrying? It seems like your current schedule is more like a maintaince hence why improvements arent really been seen. You need to make sure You Are creating a compensation situation for your body so it needs to improve.
In the times of injuries it becomes more about working around them where possible and managing them. This includes doing maintaince workouts until your fully healed to start a developing routine.
 
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I've worked extensively with older athletes (50-95 yrs) and indeed injury, especially injury that is prolonged for what ever reason is common.

Basically the primary problem is you got old! Although a torn muscle should never happen unless you are under high rates of force development and unaccustomed or highly fatigued.

how long have you had back problems and what is it?
While I am not a strong advocate of stretching (for people with normal ROM), can you touch your toes?
specifically what muscle was strained in your side?
Were you fully recovered from the previous injury before training again?
Do the strains happen early or late (fatigue) in the activity?
Do you push your self too hard?
Have you been assessed by a competent therapist?

Normally what I see happens is an injury occurs, rehab is not robust enough to overcome it or the individual 'feels' good enough and goes back to activity too soon, re-aggravating that injury or due to loading compensation injuries another limb/muscle group.

My approach would be:

Determine what you want to be able to do and by when (realistically).
List and assess the cause of the previous injuries.
Seek further medical assessment if warranted.
Determine if there is any biomechanical imbalances that are predisposing you to injury.
Assess your strength, fitness and flexibility.
Tailor an intervention to target any deficits in the above assessments.
Progress SLOWLY! much slower than you think / want to.
Minimise future risk by engaging in prehabilitation exercises, particularly around proprioception (which is lost with age and previous injury).

Give us a PM if your in Melbourne.
exercise neurophysiologist
 
thanks for your insight everyone:)
my history is that i do everything that im aware of as far as warming up and stretching always......and im very careful with bike set up (dh and xc)
I have a siactica or a small disc problem that now and then givs me grief (lower back left side) but generally good. So with that back problem which ive had for 15 years im very consious of my moments and training . I cant afford physio or time off work when injuries happen so maybe i dont give it the best treatment posible......its like whats the point of resting it as im only going to strain something else .....f@#king pissed off!!!
2/3 years ago i was never like this , If i could afford a personal trainer to give me a program i think that would help but i cant afford that
 
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Although as you said its ideal for specilists etc or even surgery to be fixed it isn't plausible when you don't have he time or money. Best bet is get onto google, hit up medical papers, read articles, specialist and forums. Find out as much information as possible about the condition and what and how you can help it your self.

Of course each persons case is very individual and its always ideal to see a DR about it but considering you are going ahead with exercise regardless it might help if you have more insight into it????
With more knowledge generally comes less risk.
 
Hey Specialist, my thoughts on longer term injuries...

Are they a result of overcompensating for an underlying injury/issue elsewhere? Compensating by using other muscle groups etc in lieu of the injured muscle and aggravating everything else because of the way you are now loading your body?

Are they the result of part of your body be relatively stronger than another part of your body and this imbalance - see this in people who stick to the same exercise routine and don't very it. Also leads to overcompensation because your strong muscles take over everything.

Misdiagnosis - injury that is not diagnosed correctly may not be getting better and causing other issues. I had a massive crash earlier this year on my XC bike cracked a couple of ribs, right knee was in a bad way and left shoulder. Broken ribs not much you can do about them, was cleared of a broken patella and was told no rotator cuff damage (which I knew as I did the stretches for that straight after the crash). Over the next couple of months I saw a couple of different doctors and got the 'muscle/tendon strain/soft tissue - will clear up with rest'. After 4 months I insisted an ultra sound was done - and then saw a good doctor who before looking at the ultra sound listened to my story and asked me to do a couple of stretches. Did the rotator cuff ones and then he asked me to do a different exercise and 'bang' that exercise perfectly isolated the issue. He said 'bursitis' looked at the report 'yep bursitis' and prescribed treatment - shoulder is improving greatly and hope to be back on on downhill bike in about 4 weeks.

I guess the underlying point of the above comments is if you are having ongoing issues you need to change something - I think to do this effectively you will need an external input whether it is a physio, trainer, GP, sports injury doctor but you need somebody to look at you and give you some feedback.

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
 
MARKL said:
Hey Specialist, my thoughts on longer term injuries...

Are they a result of overcompensating for an underlying injury/issue elsewhere? Compensating by using other muscle groups etc in lieu of the injured muscle and aggravating everything else because of the way you are now loading your body?

Are they the result of part of your body be relatively stronger than another part of your body and this imbalance - see this in people who stick to the same exercise routine and don't very it. Also leads to overcompensation because your strong muscles take over everything.

Misdiagnosis - injury that is not diagnosed correctly may not be getting better and causing other issues. I had a massive crash earlier this year on my XC bike cracked a couple of ribs, right knee was in a bad way and left shoulder. Broken ribs not much you can do about them, was cleared of a broken patella and was told no rotator cuff damage (which I knew as I did the stretches for that straight after the crash). Over the next couple of months I saw a couple of different doctors and got the 'muscle/tendon strain/soft tissue - will clear up with rest'. After 4 months I insisted an ultra sound was done - and then saw a good doctor who before looking at the ultra sound listened to my story and asked me to do a couple of stretches. Did the rotator cuff ones and then he asked me to do a different exercise and 'bang' that exercise perfectly isolated the issue. He said 'bursitis' looked at the report 'yep bursitis' and prescribed treatment - shoulder is improving greatly and hope to be back on on downhill bike in about 4 weeks.

I guess the underlying point of the above comments is if you are having ongoing issues you need to change something - I think to do this effectively you will need an external input whether it is a physio, trainer, GP, sports injury doctor but you need somebody to look at you and give you some feedback.

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
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Firstly i want to say thanks to "all" for your experience and advice ,I going to get some external advice as instructed and kick this thing in the ass.
Riding and being fit means life and existance i have to have it. I found Chek Australia and see what they can do.I'll let u know how i go
 
SPECIALIST said:
Firstly i want to say thanks to "all" for your experience and advice ,I going to get some external advice as instructed and kick this thing in the ass.
Riding and being fit means life and existance i have to have it. I found Chek Australia and see what they can do.I'll let u know how i go
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Anything to do the Paul Chek or CHEK Australia, is a guru, pseudo-science scam - they are NOT university trained or accredited with a federally recognised body.

Find yourself a decent

Exercise Physiologist
Osteopath
Physio
 
Everyone I know in queensland only do elite level or research work now, but a quick internet search gives a few options,

Queensland accademy of sport have a physio listing.
http://www.qasport.qld.gov.au/resources/qasport/services/physio-website-list.pdf

Or another very good option is look at any high level team in a given state and on their website they usually have the therapy services they use, at least then you know you are contacting someone experienced.

Another good option, for those with little money, is contact any local universities that have clinical courses, physiotherapy, osteo, ex phys... all most all campus's with these courses have teaching clinics (They will advertise this on there site). usually cost between $5-20 a session. While it is students working on you, they are supervised by competent and experienced clinicians usually with doctrates or close to. There generally also a lot of behind the scenes discussion about your case with the supervisor, so it's actualy pretty good level of care.

I used to manage a student clinic in Melbourne a few nights a week, the customers got pretty good outcomes at a great price.
 
in all honesty a personal trainer will at most have a Cert IV in Fitness and no idea of how to manage someone with an existing injury. i taught the one assigned to me at the gym more in one day than he'd learned in 5 years and have had numerous BMX coaches try to tell me what to do and have had to firmly say, no, leave me to do it my way. i've got 12 years of hands-on experience and three diplomas plus a cert 3 and half a cert four in bodywork, nutrition and counselling (welfare services) and i read Mywifesirrational's posts with care. he knows what he's on about IMHO.
 
to post an update if interested or maybe not: after reading lots of research on the net i have discovered that my main problem is very poor core strength .This combined with my sciatica which effects me now and then has caused a classic imbalance (which was suggested by u guys : ) in my muscle make up. Ive started core strength exercises and some light bumbell stuff but as u guys already know core strength is key! I hope to go for my first ride in 3 weeks this Sunday .Also i still cant afford to get assessed by a professional but i feel im on the right path cheers
 
Norco Maniac said:
speaking from an older rider's perspective - i'm 47 - injury is a part of what we do for our sport. we heal slower as we age, we are more likely to push ourselves to what we used to be able to do when we were 20, we recover more slowly and have higher expectations of ourselves.

i have learned:

warming up is essential.

i stretch every day, comprehensively.

i do better on a balanced diet full of whole foods, fresh veg and a decent amount of protein plus quality oils eg cold-pressed flaxseed, coconut and almond. i also make Kefir and use it in my amazing smoothies every day :becky:

i take magnesium in powder form (works better for me)

i came into my sport (bmx) with permanent injury from car and motorbike accidents so i've been aware from the beginning that i would have to work at staying race fit. having said that, it's been well worth it.


hit me up if you'd like my smoothie recipe :wof:
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^^^

What he said. Flexibility plays a big role. Get yourself a yoga mat and make it part of your morning ritual to stretch.

I've had so many various injuries over the years (from gym training and rugby). Once I really started worked on my flexibility and spending more time warming up, I have had almost no issues for years. Tendons are like toffee, when warm, they are malleable, when cold they are brittle. Try and get lots of warmth into your muscle and tendons by high rep work before riding, i.e. spin for 10 minutes. Combine that with stretching and greatly reduce your injury rate.

MSM is also good to add to your smoothie too.
 
Can I also suggest you go also go and get the full sweep of Blood, Saliva and Urine test. You may find ( and I'm not wishing anythign on you here mate ) that you have an underlying condition that is causing issues.

I speak from personal experience here - plenty fit, good diet, don't smoke.. late 30's started to struggle. Tried lots of stuff ( tablets, stretching, coaches -- which in and of themselves are good things ) but just wasn't moving forward. Figured I was just getting old..

Went overseas and came back with a stomach bug. So went to the doctor who just for safety sake said lets do a blood test to make cetain you don't have a tropical illness.

Test comes back -- no tropical illness but turns our my thyroid wasn't working at all. Completely burnt out. Had this plus adrenal fatigue.

Got on the right meds and the differnce is night and day.

Troy
 
SPECIALIST said:
to post an update if interested or maybe not: after reading lots of research on the net i have discovered that my main problem is very poor core strength .This combined with my sciatica which effects me now and then has caused a classic imbalance (which was suggested by u guys : ) in my muscle make up. Ive started core strength exercises and some light bumbell stuff but as u guys already know core strength is key! I hope to go for my first ride in 3 weeks this Sunday .Also i still cant afford to get assessed by a professional but i feel im on the right path cheers
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Just be careful with self diagnosis and treatment. People carrying long term back complaints do benefit from any increase in strength, so what you are doing will give you some improvement - will it fix your complaint, well maybe, maybe not, because you cannot be sure you are treating the right thing. Consider this. What is a classic imbalance caused by your "sciatica"? Do you have true sciatica, or do you experience some referred pain into your buttock and hamstring? What core exercises are you doing - are you targeting transversus abdominus or multifidus? or are you just doing some basice trunk strengthening exercises like bridging and planks? Are you glutes working, and do you have the correct firing patterns for lower limb function with relation to hip extension. What's your lumbar paraspinal endurance like?

Mate, i'm throwing this at you to highlight that these things are rarely a simple fix that can be self diagnosed over the internet. I see it everyday in my practice, and generally people get it wrong. PM me if you like and ill give you my clinic's details. I'm between Bris and GC, and if you make the trek up, i'll make it cost effective.
 
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