I thought I would pass this pearl of wisdom on - lol!
All my life I have played amateur sport. I have been amazingly lucky - (mega mega touchwood.) I have suffered hardly any injuries - maybe they can be counted on one hand - and none have been serious (mega mega touchwood again !). Of course I am thinking back over a long time and all I can think of that has stopped me playing for a decent period was two separate broken collar bones from rugby.
My (non medical) theory/approach has always been keep going - it will either get better or worse. Invariably I have found it gets better. Sharp pain I acknowledge you have to be careful with but by and large I think you can play through lets say "discomfort" and some how or other the body sorts it out. That has been what works for me. If it does get worse you know you have a problem - lol!
I appreciate this view is controversial and many would find it nonsensical. However I have observed many people that always seem to be injured - and stop playing while they recover. Two things come to mind. The first is your body is rarely in perfect shape and if you only do something when it is, you might have a very stop start sporting life. I think it is normal to have aches and pains and niggles. You can run them off. (have you noticed everyone is suddenly fit for the glory games - like cup finals!). The second is - stopping increases your chance of further injury - I am sure of this. While you are waiting around for something to come right - your body (fitness) regresses making further injury when you get going again more likely - hence the stop start.
Why am I writing this now? Well I am enjoying my squash. I have just got back to league 2 at my local club and it has been a battle - but I have really enjoyed it. It has been a battle because I had a gap in playing properly for several months because of Clipper sailing and other stuff. When you are younger you can recover quickly from a gap in playing. As you get older less so. Your body loses its specific fitness more rapidly when you get older - and the double whammy - it is then harder to get it back.
So my squash is going well - and I am playing my son George in a friendly and out of the blue I pull a calf muscle (self diagnosis). The pain is acute - like cramp. I have to stop immediately. Next morning my calf is swollen.
What to do? A quick google! Calf muscle pulls/strains/tears are graded 1 to 3 in seriousness. Recommendation - rest. Grade three can be several months. I have a grade 1 I reckon (hope) - recovery estimated as two weeks in the blurb. I suppose two weeks doesn't sound long but I know what two weeks of doing nothing can mean.
Anyway I happen to be having a general chat with my youngest son Richard on the phone - he is practicing his first year as a doctor. I ask him (not for the first time) if there is any medical evidence that my theory of keeping going aids repair - can make you heal more quickly. He said not with something like a calf muscle tear - but maybe in a general sense. Apparently in geriatric care they use the expression - "use it or lose it".
So this is what is behind my snappy little blog title - use it or lose it. It sums up my general theory. The danger of not keeping going is you lose it. Of course you lose fitness. You lose flexibility. You can lose resistance. (At a more extreme level geriatrics can quickly lose the ability to walk if they only sit down.) It snow balls. I think many people fall in to this trap. One of my other favourite sayings (often grumpily reminding myself ) is - " the less you do the less you feel like doing". This is right too and sits well with 'use it or lose it" I think.
So anyway I have had a few days of rest - the swelling has reduced. I have found I can slow jog (even slower than usual lol!). Hopefully I can get back to squash sooner rather than later but I know this will be a setback. A nuisance to say the least. It must be dreadful if you are a high level athlete - say like Andy Murray and you get a major injury. It must be a brutal journey back - both in body and mind. Some never make it. Use it or lose it. It makes sense to me.
All my life I have played amateur sport. I have been amazingly lucky - (mega mega touchwood.) I have suffered hardly any injuries - maybe they can be counted on one hand - and none have been serious (mega mega touchwood again !). Of course I am thinking back over a long time and all I can think of that has stopped me playing for a decent period was two separate broken collar bones from rugby.
My (non medical) theory/approach has always been keep going - it will either get better or worse. Invariably I have found it gets better. Sharp pain I acknowledge you have to be careful with but by and large I think you can play through lets say "discomfort" and some how or other the body sorts it out. That has been what works for me. If it does get worse you know you have a problem - lol!
I appreciate this view is controversial and many would find it nonsensical. However I have observed many people that always seem to be injured - and stop playing while they recover. Two things come to mind. The first is your body is rarely in perfect shape and if you only do something when it is, you might have a very stop start sporting life. I think it is normal to have aches and pains and niggles. You can run them off. (have you noticed everyone is suddenly fit for the glory games - like cup finals!). The second is - stopping increases your chance of further injury - I am sure of this. While you are waiting around for something to come right - your body (fitness) regresses making further injury when you get going again more likely - hence the stop start.
Why am I writing this now? Well I am enjoying my squash. I have just got back to league 2 at my local club and it has been a battle - but I have really enjoyed it. It has been a battle because I had a gap in playing properly for several months because of Clipper sailing and other stuff. When you are younger you can recover quickly from a gap in playing. As you get older less so. Your body loses its specific fitness more rapidly when you get older - and the double whammy - it is then harder to get it back.
So my squash is going well - and I am playing my son George in a friendly and out of the blue I pull a calf muscle (self diagnosis). The pain is acute - like cramp. I have to stop immediately. Next morning my calf is swollen.
What to do? A quick google! Calf muscle pulls/strains/tears are graded 1 to 3 in seriousness. Recommendation - rest. Grade three can be several months. I have a grade 1 I reckon (hope) - recovery estimated as two weeks in the blurb. I suppose two weeks doesn't sound long but I know what two weeks of doing nothing can mean.
Anyway I happen to be having a general chat with my youngest son Richard on the phone - he is practicing his first year as a doctor. I ask him (not for the first time) if there is any medical evidence that my theory of keeping going aids repair - can make you heal more quickly. He said not with something like a calf muscle tear - but maybe in a general sense. Apparently in geriatric care they use the expression - "use it or lose it".
So this is what is behind my snappy little blog title - use it or lose it. It sums up my general theory. The danger of not keeping going is you lose it. Of course you lose fitness. You lose flexibility. You can lose resistance. (At a more extreme level geriatrics can quickly lose the ability to walk if they only sit down.) It snow balls. I think many people fall in to this trap. One of my other favourite sayings (often grumpily reminding myself ) is - " the less you do the less you feel like doing". This is right too and sits well with 'use it or lose it" I think.
So anyway I have had a few days of rest - the swelling has reduced. I have found I can slow jog (even slower than usual lol!). Hopefully I can get back to squash sooner rather than later but I know this will be a setback. A nuisance to say the least. It must be dreadful if you are a high level athlete - say like Andy Murray and you get a major injury. It must be a brutal journey back - both in body and mind. Some never make it. Use it or lose it. It makes sense to me.
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