Exercise Injury Prevention

Running in the Fast Lane | Listening to your Body | Training Errors Training Principles | Practical Training | Psychological Factors

Training Errors

The number one training error is overuse, or doing too much too fast. When the body is faced with a new task, it does its best to adapt to the challenge, but the adaptation takes time. Dr. Angela Smith, a Cleveland-based Orthopedic Surgeon, advises that "Training error leading to chronic injury is a major cause of downtime in sports. It takes time for the bones, tendons, and muscles of athletes to adapt to the stress of workouts. How much you train really comes down to being able to listen to your body and make adaptations in your workouts as needed."

Overuse injury occurs because most people are totally unaware of the biomechanical stresses involved in simple exercise and ignore the toll on their body. It's not surprising that 30 to 75 percent of all sports injuries are attributed to overuse. The team physician for the University of Washington, Dr. Stanley Herring, illustrates the problem by pointing out that "A 70-kg (154 lb.) runner at 1175 steps per mile absorbs at least 220 tons of force per mile." That's an incredible amount of pounding! With these types of cumulative forces, injury results from microtrauma, rather than from a single overwhelming event. The common feature in these overuse injuries is not that the workout was inappropriate, but rather that the repetitive trauma overwhelmed the body's ability to repair itself. Mistakes of performing too much, too fast, are extremely common with changes in season, activity, or changes in terrain. Common sense needs to be employed during training to provide an adequate mix of overload and recovery. When sound, positive, training techniques are employed, the vast majority of overuse problems can be avoided. Training, properly structured, may be an example of "less is more." Dr. Smith notes that while exercising, "Pains in your muscles or joints indicate that you're doing too much, too soon. Cut back on your distance and intensity until you're pain free." The key to training properly is to have a reasonable progression, and recognize the need for overload, recovery, and consistency.

Other predisposing factors for injury can be grouped into personal characteristics and training characteristics. Personal characteristics are factors such as age, gender, experience with sport, previous injury, body composition, and psychological make-up. Training characteristics include items like warm-up, stretching, equipment, time of day, and the training program. Since the personal factors are either not modifiable, such as age and gender, or are difficult to modify, they will not be considered further. Positive training principles are provided to address training characteristics and optimize the chance of remaining "in the fast lane."

Source: Halle, J. (Ph.D., Lieutenant Colonel, US Army). Exercise Injury Prevention: Running in the Fast Lane. From "Executive Wellness: A Guide for Senior Leaders." U.S. Army Physical Fitness Research Institute (USAPFRI), U.S. Army War College (Eds.). Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Running in the Fast Lane | Listening to your Body | Training Errors Training Principles | Practical Training | Psychological Factors