Why one sports injury can sometimes lead to another |
A sports injury can feel like a single setback: a twisted ankle, a strained calf or a sore knee. But for many people, the real problem starts when they try to come back too soon – only to end up with a second injury.
Secondary injuries happen for a simple reason. After an injury, the body often changes the way it moves. This is a normal protective response. If one area hurts, feels weak or isn’t working properly, the body shifts the workload elsewhere.
That strategy can be helpful in the short term. It allows us to keep walking, climbing stairs or doing our normal, everyday tasks. But in sport and exercise, where the body has to run, jump, turn or absorb force, those small changes can place extra stress on muscles and joints that were not meant to do the extra work.
Take an ankle sprain as an example. Someone recovering may limp slightly, shorten their stride or put more weight onto their other leg. They may also rely more heavily on the muscles around the hip and pelvis to compensate. Over time, that can lead to pain or injury somewhere else, such as the knee, hip or lower back.
Another reason secondary injuries happen is because pain and recovery are not the same thing. The pain you experience from your initial injury may improve quite quickly, especially with rest. But that doesn’t mean strength, balance, fitness........