For decades there has been an acceptance of a disproportionate amount of pain amongst athletes and the generally active.
We don’t have to look far for the clues about athletic pain and injury rates – every single professional sporting organisation will employ at least a physiotherapist on their staff. In the upper echelons of professional sport where the budgets are larger, this progresses into an entire medial department including multiple doctors and specialists in various form on injury management.
Of course a livelihood where extreme physical exertion isn’t just desired, it’s expected is largely responsible for such levels of injury and discomfort. Throw into the mix a less-than-optimum travel and training schedule and the problem increases in orders of magnitude. A fatigued athlete is more susceptible to injury than a fully recovered one.
Culturally, athletes exist in a world where pushing beyond one’s limits is encouraged. Outdated training maxims such as ‘no pain, no gain’ and ‘rest is rust’ are still commonplace in sport.
As a company in the business of human performance, KYMIRA have a vested interested in helping athletes perform, recover and manage pain more effectively. As part of our research into athletic pain, we’ve investigated the size of the problem and written this article about the rates and nature of the issues athletes are facing…
Comments
Andrew Payne said:
Is there a difference between an ache or a pain? Is it just a preception.
I consider my self lucky as I’ve rarely had an injury through cycling. I see pain as caused by some type of injury which results in some form of reduced movement with a sharp / stabbing senastion.
However my body and especailly legs often ache. This ache doesnt restrict movement but can make exercise feel harder work and limits power output