Maybe you’re an avid runner and your knees are bothering you. Or you’re rocking some deadlifts and you feel a twinge in your hamstring. Personally, my most recent injury happened while doing a kettlebell windmill. I was bending down and heard a loud pop! At first there was no pain, but then my inner thigh area seized up and I was on the floor. Ugh, what a bummer!
What I’ve seen most people do, including myself in the past, is to completely stop exercising. Stop doing anything. Stop lifting weights, stop running, cycling…whatever it is that you do. However, this is the worst thing that you can do!
Not only does stopping your activity put an end to a habit you’ve likely worked hard to build, but you will also lose the progress you’ve worked hard for and miss out on the opportunity to improve!Think about it this way, injury is almost always a product of some sort of weakness, faulty movement pattern, muscular imbalance, or technique fault. This means just like in a growth mindset, failure, a mistake, or in this case injury, is just an opportunity to learn and improve.
Circling back to my adductor injury. What did I do, then? Something that affects the hip can sometimes be hard to work around, but I did.
And how did I do that? I focused on 3 methods:
1 – I made note of movements that irritated the area and avoided those or did them within a range of motion that didn’t cause pain. For example, deadlifts hurt, but only when I got near the floor, so I did them elevated.
2 – I talked with a professional – a sports-specific chiropractor to be exact. She advised that it sounded like a ligament or tendon strain and those types of tissues responded best to strengthening, not stretching. So I avoided stretching and focused on exercises to strengthen the adductors, like adductor glute bridges, Copenhagen planks, and side lying leg raises.
3 – I gave it time, but also continued to test what felt good and what didn’t to ensure not to push too hard on those movements that hurt. But, I also continued to progress in lifts and areas that were not affected.
In the end, I didn’t lose any progress. Plus, I believe that I improved and learned from that experience. I now make sure to stretch and roll my adductors more frequently, as I have noted that they get tight and this, most likely, contributed to by injury.
So, if you’re experiencing knee pain when you run, ask yourself, “Why?” Is there something in your gait that is putting extra tension on your knees? Have you neglected strength training which has led to your hips being weak, thus putting all the brunt of the running gait on your knees.
Maybe you’re a cyclist and you are having trouble with excessive hip soreness, which is holding you back from improving your performance. Have you worked on specific hip strengthening or are you just hoping that riding more will solve the problem.
Remember, your body gives you clues when it’s not working well. Take the hint. Don’t give up, and always find a way to work around and improve!
If you want to learn more about how we help athletes work around and prevent injury, check out our coaching services here.
Thanks for reading!
Amelia (& Alberto) @ Level Up Strength Society
For more information on our workout programs, coaching or to schedule a free Clarity Call with us, visit https://www.pdxstrengthsociety.com/.
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