"Ouch! That Hurts!" What to do when an injury puts a roadblock in your journey to optimal health

You've started to work out consistently and you've even noticed you've lost some fat and gained some muscle. Suddenly an injury stops you in your tracks. What can you do, and how do you prevent another injury?

Strength-training programs have been shown to help prevent injuries in people of all ages. In fact, resistance training is now an integral part of all rehabilitation and physical therapy programs in America and other countries. Successful training, however, by necessity requires us to push beyond our physical limits and this can sometimes result in an injury if we are not careful. This is the last thing we want to happen, so we need to know what to do to prevent these injuries and, if one should occur, how to treat it and how to work around it. I think an important part of the learning experience associated with both aerobic and resistance training is developing the ability to know the difference between the "good" pain of a deep muscle burn and the bad pain of an injury.

The two types of injuries
Injuries fall into two main categories-macrotrauma and microtrauma. Macrotrauma is a specific and sudden event that results from an overload injury. The tissue integrity is disrupted. If the trauma is to a bone the result is either a contusion or fracture. If the trauma is to a joint the result is a dislocation or subluxation, which frequently produces joint instability. Trauma to ligaments can cause sprains. Muscle trauma can result in bruising (contusions) or strains. Strains are tears of the muscle fibers. Macrotrauma injuries are usually very serious and require specific rehabilitation strategies, frequently requiring the help of a health professional, to return to normal function. 
Microtrauma injuries, usually less serious than macrotrauma injuries, are a result of overuse most often brought on by repeated, abnormal stresses applied to tissues by continuous training or training with inadequate recovery times. Overuse injuries can be the result of an inadequate warm up, a poorly designed training program, faulty techniques or poor flexibility. The most common overuse injury to bone is a stress fracture caused by over training on hard surfaces. And the most common soft tissue overuse injury is to a tendon producing a tendonitis-an inflammation of a tendon. 
You can treat most microtrauma injuries yourself. The first rule of treatment is to never overstress the healing tissue. You must also prevent new tissue injury and create an environment conducive for new tissue regeneration and the prevention of prolonged inflammation. This can be achieved by utilizing the essential treatment modalities of rest, ice, compression and elevation. In some cases, if the injury is mild, you can still train the injured area if you take plenty of extra time to warm up and stretch before you work against any resistance. 
Don't forget that your recovery time is directly dependent on the power, strength and endurance of your musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems. Your primary goal must, therefore, be to continue with the resistance and aerobic training of the uninjured parts of your body while protecting the injured area. An athletic trainer, sports medicine physician, orthopedic surgeon or a well-trained chiropractor can help you with this if you need it.
One final word of caution-I think you need to be very careful when it comes to using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications like aspirin or ibuprofen to treat your pain. These agents can mask your pain and frequently result in additional injury during training. I rarely ever use them. I like to feel the pain of an injury when I am training so that I can train around it.

"Injury-Prevention Strategies"

• Don't train a group of muscles if they are sore, tired or tight because they are at much greater risk of injury when they are in this state.
• Always warm-up before you start your training--five to 10 minutes of aerobic exercise along with gentle stretching exercises.
• Stretch the group of muscles you are working between sets.
• Begin with lighter weights and increase the poundage as you move through the sets.
• Use perfect form on all exercises--the right lifting techniques are absolutely essential for injury prevention.
• Don't "bounce" at the bottom of your squats. This puts great stress on your knees and almost guarantees a serious injury.
• Maintain control when you bring the weight to your chest while doing bench presses. Dropping the weight without control is a sure way to injure your chest or shoulders.
• Get really warm and dress appropriately before you train in cold environments.
• Stay hydrated. Even mild dehydration sets you up for muscle and tendon injury. How Much Water Should you drink? (click here for an article)
• Take your antioxidants (vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, and omega 3 fatty acids). Amounts? (Click here for an article) They fight off the free radicals produced during intense exercise. These molecules can damage tissues and increase your chances of an injury. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals and prevent cellular damage.
• Get plenty of sleep. (How Much? Click here for an article) You grow muscle and repair tissues while sleeping, which gets you ready for your next training session.
• Incorporate flexibility training into your resistance and aerobic training programs. Flexibility is absolutely essential for injury prevention!