Why Injuries Happen: Understanding, Recovering, Injury Prevention & Pain Treatment

Preventing injuries starts with understanding their causes: a closer look at back strain.

Have you ever wondered why some people walk away unscathed from an intense activity while others face lingering injuries from doing the same thing? By the end of this article, you’ll understand why injuries happen, how to approach recovery, and, most importantly, how to prepare your body to avoid them in the future.

Load vs. Capacity: The Key to Understanding Injury Risk

In injury prevention and recovery, the Load vs. Capacity model offers powerful insights. Imagine your body has a “capacity threshold”—the maximum amount of force or load it can handle without injury. When the load from activities or stressors exceeds this threshold, the risk of injury rises sharply. Staying below this threshold typically keeps us in the safe zone, but surpassing it through repetitive strain or sudden high-intensity impact creates the conditions for potential pain or injury. (International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, 2023)

How Load and Capacity Work

The Load vs. Capacity concept doesn't only apply to physical activities like lifting weights or running; it encompasses our entire lifestyle. An excellent example comes from BMJ’s insights, which show that a person’s “load” doesn’t come only from the gym or physical activity but also from daily life stresses like poor sleep, high work stress, or inadequate recovery. These factors can lower our body’s capacity over time, leaving us more vulnerable to pain and injury in routine activities (British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM), 2023, All Elite Physio, 2023).

The Three Key Contributors to Injury Risk

Each day, we wake up with various factors that affect our capacity threshold. Here are the three main contributors:

1. Anatomical Limitations - These are elements we can’t change, like the structure of our joints or past injuries (e.g., a disc herniation or joint degeneration). This fixed component often means that certain loads will be more challenging for us than others.

2. Recovery Factors - Research by All Elite Physio explains that recovery factors, such as quality sleep, proper nutrition, and managing stress, play a huge role in injury prevention. If these areas are well-managed, they increase our capacity to withstand higher loads (All Elite Physio, 2023).

3. Functional Factors - These include aspects we can improve, such as flexibility, mobility, strength, and coordination. By strengthening these areas, we boost our capacity and reduce the risk of injury.

Ankle support techniques can enhance resilience and prevent injury during rehabilitation.

When Daily Life Piles on the Load

Injuries aren’t caused by exercise alone; our daily lives also contribute. Imagine waking up tired, dealing with work stress, then heading to the gym for an intense workout. The cumulative load from life and physical activity can push us past our capacity threshold, creating the perfect storm for an injury. As BMJ’s findings show, this cumulative effect often goes unnoticed until we experience pain or dysfunction, underscoring the need to balance our load and capacity thoughtfully (British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM), 2023).

How to Recover and Stay Below the Threshold

If you’re dealing with pain, the key to relief is to get back below your capacity threshold by managing your load and improving your recovery. Here’s how:

1. Address Functional Deficits: Work on strength, flexibility, and mobility to help distribute load more evenly and reduce strain.

2. Optimise Recovery: Prioritise rest, proper nutrition, and stress management. Research from All Elite Physio demonstrates that well-balanced recovery practices are essential for allowing the body to recharge and handle future loads safely (All Elite Physio, 2023).

3. Scale Back Temporarily: If an activity, like intense lifting or high-impact movements, is pushing you over the threshold, consider scaling it back until your pain subsides.

Building Capacity for a Resilient Future

Once you’re below the threshold and pain is under control, you can begin to increase your body’s capacity gradually. Consistently working just below your current capacity threshold helps your body adapt, building resilience and strength over time. This is the cornerstone of the Load vs. Capacity model, emphasising that as your capacity grows, so does your ability to handle greater physical demands with less risk (British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM), 2023).

The Path Forward: Achieving Physical Freedom

By understanding the Load vs. Capacity model and applying it to daily life, you gain control over your injury risk and recovery. The first step is to stay below the threshold by reducing unnecessary loads and enhancing recovery. As your pain subsides, you can focus on strengthening your functional factors, like flexibility and strength, to support increased capacity over time.

Achieving physical freedom and resilience is possible by working within your limits and gradually expanding them. When you balance load and capacity, you’ll be able to handle the activities you love without pain or fear of injury.

References:

All Elite Physio, 2023. Running Injuries: Load vs Capacity Explained. [online] Available at: https://allelitephysio.com.au/running-injuries-load-vs-capacity [Accessed 21 October 2024].

British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM), 2023. Load vs Capacity: the good and the debatable. BJSM Blog. [online] Available at: https://blogs.bmj.com/bjsm/2023/03/21/load-vs-capacity/ [Accessed 21 October 2024].

International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, 2023. Understanding Load vs Capacity in Injury Prevention. [online] Available at: https://ijpt.org/load-vs-capacity [Accessed 21 October 2024].