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There are definitely times that rest can be an appropriate resolution to some muscle soreness when it comes to your training. Particularly if you have been working on high volume lifting, significant increase in running mileage, or have been neglecting your sleep and recovery.
Here are 5 of the top CrossFit or Fitness related injuries that will likely NOT be resolved with just resting, along with a couple tips for how to get started in resolving them.
1: Back Pain with Deadlifts
This is primarily due to one (or all) of 3 things. You are lacking trunk stability, hip extension strength, or hip extension mobility. The combination of these things causes you to overextend your low back at the lock out of the deadlift, rather than extending through your hips at the top. This back and forth motion on a loaded spine will cause your brain to give you a "request for a change", known simply as back pain.
What to work on??
- Improve your ability to keep trunk stable. Think "ribs down" when lifting.
- Work on increasing your hip extension mobility, then follow it up with using that new mobility in something like a single leg bridge.
2: Hip Pain with Squats
Most likely if you are getting hip pinching or pain during squats, it will be due to your hips running out of room when you go down in your squats.
What to work on??
- Improve Hip Flexion Mobility. This is your ability for you knee to move toward your chest. If you get a "pinching" feel by lying on your back and bringing your knee to your chest, this may be the case.
- Improve your ability to keep trunk stable. Think "ribs down" when lifting. This will put your pelvis in a better position to increase depth in your squat.
(See "Trunk Bracing" video above.)
3: Shoulder Pain with Pull-ups
If you get a pinching feel or pain when you perform pull ups, you are probably having some difficulty with overhead mobility and shoulder stability. If it doesn't set back when you press, your humerus (upper arm bone) will run into the front of the acromion (front of shoulder blade) and can cause pain.
What to work on??
- Improve your Shoulder Flexion Mobility. This is the ability for your arm to go overhead.
- Improve Thoracic Spine Extension Mobility. The thoracic spine is the upper part of your back. If it is tight, it will not allow you to bring your arm overhead comfortably.
4: Knee Pain with Running
There are a couple culprits that could be involved if you are getting pain with running. The top things are typically that you need to improve hip mobility, hip control and need to make sure you have a soft landing.
What to work on??
- Improve hip extension mobility as well as stability. This will allow your leg to go through the full range of motion during the run stride and keep less tension on your quadriceps, which can pull on the knee, causing some knee discomfort.
(See Hip Extension Mobility video above.)
- Work on landing soft. "Land like a ninja!" Your heel will make contact with the ground, but it shouldn't be the first point of contact. Try running barefoot on the grass, then put your shoes on and run just like you were running. The goal is to run like you are barefoot, but with shoes on. Or you could just run barefoot if you don't have nails/rocks/glass on your route.
5: Shoulder Pain with Pressing
If you are having shoulder pain when you press either in a bench press, push up or overhead press, it could likely due to lack of shoulder stability. This means you are not having good control of your shoulder blade when you press the barbell or kettlebell.
What to work on??
- If overhead pressing is your main issue, overhead mobility is where you should start. (See Overhead Shoulder Mobility video above.)
- Learn to stabilize your shoulder blade and create torque through your shoulder when pressing. This gives you a stable platform to press from.
To be clear, the intent of this post is not to say that rest isn't important. Recovery is just as important for your training as the actual workouts are. However, if you have poor mechanics, there is no amount of rest that is going to fix improper movement.
If you have been dealing with pain or stiffness for weeks, months, even years that you haven't been able to take care of on your own, it is time to give us a call! We help people just like you every day to continue their training without pain or limitation.
We use a 3 step process to help people solve their problem for good:
1: Get to the root of the problem and relieve pain.
2: Fix the root cause of the problem.
3: Teach you how to keep the problem from coming back.
Give us a call at (405) 633-0193 or email us at kyle@muvokc.com so we can discuss what problem you are having and how we can help you.
Call us today. Life is too short to avoid the activities you love.
Dr. Kyle Womack, PT, DPT, CF-L2, SFMA, FMS, FMT, TRS
Owner/Physical Therapist
MŪV OKC Performance Physio
405-633-0193
kyle@muvokc.com