Time to Stop
“No pain, no gain,” we were told in our youth. “Push through the pain.” These are outside voices – but listening to your own body and knowing when to stop is the key to diminishing self-inflicted injuries and lengthening your sports career.
Pain is a sign of injury. Pain in muscles stems from overuse of the existing muscle fibers. It’s a balance: We need just enough overuse to stimulate the body to build stronger muscles, but without tearing the muscle past the point of natural repair. Pain in the joints is often due to damage to the weight-bearing surfaces. Since we often are caught up in the excitement of our sport when the body is calling a time-out, we fail to pace ourselves. We extend past the helpful pain of muscle training into the zone of muscle damage. Here are some of my personal challenges:
When I am waterskiing I am in bliss—until I notice the front of my knee hurting. This usually happens just as I am getting really tired. If I drop the handle right then, I won’t overload the patella cartilage and may avoid suffering irreparable damage. Much anterior knee pain comes from overloading—whether from weak muscles, poor alignment, or previous injuries. Gradually building strength distributes the forces across the knee and may stop the pain.
Doing squats while weightlifting is my single most important weight-training maneuver. Almost no other exercise builds muscle power in the legs, trunk, and core— while also improving balance and flexibility—as much as a well-executed squat. It is my go-to exercise—yet it’s one that, if done poorly, leads quickly to back pain. As soon as I feel an odd tweak in one side of my back or the other, I stop the squat. I then stretch and attempt to return with a lower weight—or just call it quits for the day’s squats.
When I’m riding my bike, I often notice lower back stiffness. This is a function of being on the bike for several hours in the forward-curled position of the road bike rider. The stomach muscles are not engaged, and the lower back strains unequally. With each pedal stroke, the neck is awkwardly extended, with the weight of the helmet pushing against the paracervical muscles. All of this conspires to produce soreness, stiffness, and pain. I’ve learned that I have to get off my bike every hour or so to stretch. I also change my hand positions frequently during the ride. Either I respect the not-so-subtle signals of muscle overuse, or I find myself behind the group.
When I’m stand-up paddling, the rhythmic motion of the paddle in the water lulls me into forgetting that if I don’t engage my core, bend my back deeply, reach out, and use short strokes, many of my joints will talk to me. My arm complains of a tennis elbow-like pain if the paddle’s not truly straight when entering the water. Stand-up paddling is all about technique. If I don’t listen when pain signals me, my technique leads not to bliss but to injury.
And now an extended ski season is tempting all the Fates. There are few sports riskier than skiing and snowboarding. Your knees are bent and loaded for as much as six hours a day, with your body weight at the mercy of gravity. The bumps on the slopes are just waiting to force rapid bending and extension, while temperatures fluctuate to heat and freeze the blood flow. Why we all think we can just go out there and ski all day on the first day is beyond reason, yet so attractive…. So pay special attention to all your joints while out on the slopes, and take a break when one or more of them starts to flinch. Warm up well in a hot tub or shower before you go skiing and cool down with stretching and ice for sore spots.
Listen to your body. Notice the first signs of overuse pain, and change the activity just enough to avoid the second, third, and then fatal signs of muscle and joint injury. When we position ourselves to stop when we need to, we will achieve our ultimate goal of dying healthy and sliding into home plate after a life fully lived.
Article originally published November 1, 2017. Updated & republished April 30, 2023 with content updates by Kevin R. Stone, MD
