Avoiding Weak Links

This article is from a really good book I am reading called "Framework" by Nicholas A. Dinubile. He uses the word 'frame' to describe our bones, joints and muscles. It's a very sensible, user friendly book and gives great tips on keeping our 'frame' strong into old age. The moral of the story is - if something is niggling you, go see a professional about it!!

Avoiding Weak Links

Torn cartilage in the knee or a stress fracture can harm you, whereas a bruise and a small hematoma (swelling) from a kick will merely hurt. A certain degree of hurt is ok - it's the harm you have to watch out for.

The danger of letting 'hurt' continue until it causes harm is that, even when the injury can be 'repaired' it often leaves you with a structural flaw, a weak link, that makes you vulnerable to further injury.

We all have these vulnerabilities in our frames: structural flaws, some big, some small. Some are obvious and/or symptomatic - others quiet, asymptomatic, lurking beneath the skin, waiting for the right cirucumstance to rear their ugly heads. May stay quiet for a lifetime but all have the potential to give you grief.

Weak links come in many varieties and can be from:

• An old injury or ailment that leaves structural flaw
• Inbalances in musculature or flexibility that put stress on particular joints
• Incomplete rehabilitation of an old or new injury or ailment
• Alignment or anatomy problems
• Genetics
• Tissue changes resulting from aging or other causes
• Mindset or attitude
• Program design or exercise technique

Many injuries do not completely rehabilitate, something we call IRS or incomplete rehabilitation syndrome. It takes a lot of work to get back to 100% (or as close as possible) after an injury, and most of us stop around 80-85% when our bodies think they feel okay (i.e. when the swelling is down and the limp goes away). This is a big mistake. Playing at 80% often means reinjury.

Likewise, imbalances in strength, flexibility, or both can be a major setup for bone and joint problems. Most of us are at least a little out of balance, which is why your alignment, genetic makeup, or changes that occur from aging also create vulnerabilities in your frame. The weak links that upset me the most, and are probably the most preventable, are those we inflict on ourselves with a negative mindset or poorly designed workouts. The importance of all this is that a chain, or should I say frame, is only as strong as its weakest link. Find those weak links and toughen them, and you are ready to go the distance.