A Note on Injury Prevention, Strength, and Awareness
I just bought a new road bike last week and rode about 20 miles two days in a row. (I’m super excited because if any of you have been looking to purchase any kind of bike during the pandemic, you may have quickly figured out that they are in high demand and limited stock due to manufacturing slow downs.) I ride longer distances maybe three times a year, so it’s not something I’m used to doing regularly.
Possibly the most useful skill that ever came out of my yoga practice is the ability to “sense” my body—to notice, observe, be curious, and feel various sensations externally (touch, temperature, pressure) and internally (joints, muscles, heart beat, stomach). I try to incorporate this as much as possible into the classes I teach and the individual clients I work with. It’s an extremely powerful skill that allows us to make changes before changes HAVE to be made.
The first day I rode my bike, I noticed my tendency to take my left hand off the handle bar and shake out my elbow quite a few times. There was clearly some discomfort. I also noticed my low back ache a little bit by the end of the ride. And then there were my hamstrings, I just “felt” them in a way that seemed intense, high up by my sit bones. I attributed these three things to the fact that I have been doing a good bit of arm strength training the past week and a lot of locomotion work (heavy in the legs). I relegated it to fatigue from the week, or possibly it’s just because it’s a new bike.
I felt completely fine the next morning, so I decided to ride again—the weather is too beautiful to stay indoors, right?? I noticed my left elbow begin to bother me earlier in the ride. My back began to ache slightly toward the end of the ride, just like the previous day. I also noticed I “felt” my hamstrings LESS than the previous day and realized, the previous day, I rode with my fiancé. He graciously rides at my pace but I still feel the pressure to speed it up a bit. The second day, I rode on my own and slowed it down—easier on the legs. These are valuable pieces of information, the very very beginnings of repetitive stress and overload — think, too much too soon. These are the exact things that the pandemic is encouraging. So many of us are picking up new hobbies and going full force, whether it’s a daily Vinyasa Yoga practice, running, or anything else
Here’s the thing. I am not injured. I didn’t even experience ANY pain or discomfort or soreness the following day. So, it could be SUPER easy for me to just ignore the issue since the issue is no longer present, and this is what most of us do. Why address something that isn’t an issue most of the time? Well, it may likely eventually become an issue. The power of preventative strength training is that it can truly support the activities we love to do. We can NEVER fully prevent injury, but we can definitely mitigate risk.
I know right away that if I would like to sustain my body’s ability to enjoy this new hobby of going on longer bike rides, I’m going to need to do a few things to help myself out. For my arm, I’m going to work on straight arm strength, for my back, I’m going to work on deadlifts, for my hamstrings, I know I need some hamstring curls. (These are not prescriptive exercises for these potential injuries but are specific to what I know my needs are).
Sensing our body and then observing our sensations creates curiosity rather than fear. It creates an awareness of the earliest of signals of our body trying to communicate with us well before an injury is sustained. Yoga and meditation are a great places to access this skill but not the only places. Can you create a sense of mindfulness during your walk to the grocery store? Or even when you’re taking a work break and headed to the bathroom? And strength work doesn’t have to be hours a week, it doesn’t have to be Crossfit style, and it doesn’t have to be boring. If you consider it like a “probiotic” or something to aid in the digestion of the things you love, practice it in small doses, and add variations often, it might become more appealing.
keep moving