Obviously i'm not sure as to the reason behind injury prone-ness (especially yours or mine), if I was, we'd be alot healthier. You and I seem built fairly different, but I think a similarity we share is our stubbornness. So regardless of any genetic markers, we dive head first into things over the years. Both you and I seem like we're becoming more patient and much more careful as we get older, but even then, the KB swings with hamstring soreness is a good example of just being stubborn - without even knowing it. I too wouldn't have expected to get injured (tweak a hammy) by doing that, but I probably would have gotten injured also lmao. So, it's those little things that seem to add up over time and eventually become chronic, that just cause so many problems.
FWIW, I think your fitness has dropped overall over recent months, so your ability to handle even simple training decreased, but mentally you're pushing yourself harder than your body is ready for, without realizing it.
I know for sure that's at least one avenue of prevention that we both need to get better at.
So, being more cautious before training, or not just jumping right into a competitive bout of ultimate in your case, or running in mine, helps. But there's also the next part of it that pretty much everyone suffers from, is when we get these aches/strains/little injuries, we train through them.
So the first part is trying not to get them in the first place .. but the next part, after we get them, is not training through them and making them worse.
But ya, the actual reason for the susceptibility to strains, tendonitis, chronic aches etc, is the million dollar question. I have absolutely no idea.
A few things i've noticed about myself lately in regards to stretching: if it's a rest day, no intense activity, if I stretch - say after a shower, i'm much more susceptible to strains/things tightening up. However, if I stretch before bed or throughout the day, AFTER some form of running/activity, it seems to be much safer. So, heating my body up with a nice hot shower, then stretching, which I always felt was at least better than stretching cold, seems to be much more risky for me, if I haven't done any real activity that day. Secondly, relaxing completely and not forcing a stretch at all, is essential. I'm not forcing any stretches right now, and i've been able to handle nightly stretching before bed, pretty well. The only time I wrecked myself is when I overstretched my rear delt, causing some issue in my ribs. So the funny thing about all of this is, i'm 35. How was I unable to put this together much sooner? Flexibility has always been very elusive to me .. I think the reason why I haven't put it together properly, is that I always wanted more flexibility. Right now, idgaf. I'm just getting in a nice light stretch & whatever comes of it, good. So the mentality has completely changed. simply getting in the stimulus to some degree, without forcing anything, has become the primary goal. I'm actually taking a similar route with running, trying less to "force my pace". I have a pace over X distance that i'm able to hit nice and relaxed, without "forcing it". I'm trying to get better at reaching those paces, and not exceeding them because of my "greedy/stubborn" mindset, which is probably a detriment because of increased injury risk and/or technique/form/mental changes that go along with forcing the pace. So those are a few things i'm honing in on while trying to get to that next level with running.
I do have one injury lately, which is that weird foot injury .. that I can barely explain. It came after my last track workout, where I ended it with spikes. I think it's some kind of weird "fat tissue" damage or something on the edge of my left foot. It just feels very odd. So, like I mentioned above, i'm training through it. Though after tonight, I might actually take a few days off to see if it goes away. I've definitely been too stubborn to just rest and heal it, which is one of my biggest problems. But there's also the idea that working through it a little, if it's nothing, it'll just heal up & disappear. So since that hasn't happened yet, i've probably made it a bit worse instead of better. That's the little "gamble" that, if it goes the "worse direction", probably leads to these chronic aches and pains much more easily.
2 cents + 2 cents
pc!!!
