The mind of an athlete has a peculiar brand of irrational
rationalization. A friend of mine, Dr. Tim Maggs describes a very
typical conversation between a doctor and patient. In this conversation
the patient explains to Dr. Maggs that they have an injury. However,
they believe they shouldn't, because they don't have time for an
injury. A runner, for example needs to continue logging 90 miles per
week, because he has a huge race in just 3 weeks.
This is a
very common conversation and it usually involves the injured athlete
expressing their frustration with the fact that they didn't have a
specific event that caused this injury. These types of injuries are
generally related to repetitive stress and are often referred to as
"overuse" injuries. The injured party commonly struggles with
understanding why their problem took place and hopes for a quick fix.
According
to Dr. Maggs, "Regardless of what we want, the laws of physiology and
stress will always dictate our outcomes." Increasing the strength of a
tissue can be referred to as increasing the tolerance of the tissue.
Whether it is bone, muscle, tendon, ligament or any other tissue in the
body, tissue tolerance refers to how much stress that tissue can handle
before it tears or breaks. The goal of a healthy lifestyle is to keep
every cell, organ and tissue in your body as healthy as possible. This
will allow you to be ready when the various stresses of life present
themselves. When the tolerance level of a given tissue is exceeded, an
injury will occur. Muscles may tear, bones may break, discs will bulge
or rupture and ligaments will stretch and tear. No matter what tissue
is injured, the bottom line is that the tolerance level of that tissue
was exceeded.
It is unfortunate that as a society we find it
desirable to believe that if there is no pain present, there is no
problem. It may not be understood why the hamstring tore today and not
yesterday, but that doesn't always mean that you did something today
that you didn't do yesterday. Maybe today the tissue was simply
fatigued past its tolerance level due to biomechanical imbalance and
repetitive stress. Unfortunately, not enough doctors out there are
familiar with biomechanics and the biomechanical imbalances that are
precursors to these stresses. As a result, minimal efforts have been
made to raise awareness about sports biomechanics and proactive measures
that can be taken to increase tissue tolerance. The purpose of this
column is to promote sports biomechanics awareness so that you can spend
more time on the field for many more years to come.