Sport and pain go hand in hand: Everything you need to know

One of the most frustrating occurrences for any athlete or physically active person is experiencing pain.

Your body constantly fights the mental aspect of trying to avoid it.

Yet, sometimes your sport or activity has a natural way of pushing you harder, particularly in activities like park runs or sports like CrossFit, and the result is pain the next day.

The frustrating part is that no matter how much hard work you put in, you are guaranteed to experience delayed onset of muscle soreness weekly.

The fitter you become, the less pain you feel, but as you start ageing, your body quickly reminds you that you are not 20-years-old again.

There are various types of pain and it is necessary to know which ones are from strenuous exercise and which ones are not.

Pain comes in the form of:

1  Acute pain – this is pain typically from soft-tissue damage or temporary illness.

2 Chronic pain – generally a constant or intermittent pain due to health conditions.

3 Nociceptive pain – is described as pain that causes damage to body tissue, like stubbing your toe or bumping your arm or elbow.

4 Neuropathic pain – this pain is due to nerve damage and can often be described as a sharp, shooting, stabbing, or burning pain.

5 Radicular pain – occurs from compression or inflamed spinal nerves. People who experience this pain have tingling, numbness, and muscle weakness.

Athletes experience most pain in the form of DOMS – delayed onset of muscle soreness and typically occurs 24-48 hours after your workout. The more unfit or inefficient your muscles are in relation to exercise load, intensity, and duration, will determine how long DOMS lasts.

During high-intensity exercise, tiny, microscopic tears and bleeding occur. The body responds to the damaged area by increasing inflammation and swelling. The body does this to start the repair process, and those fibres are repaired and become thicker and more robust and adapt by becoming more efficient to that specific exercise demands. DOMS is potentially most painful when you have not exercised in a long time and begin training.

Signs of DOMS:

Muscles are tender to touch.

Reduced ROM (range of motion).

Muscle fatigue.

Short term loss of muscle strength.

Increased swelling.

The area that is affected the most:

Calves

Thighs

Buttocks

Arms and shoulders

Abdominals

The life of a routine athlete goes through these cycles of DOMS on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis, and the management of recovery becomes a critical factor in performance, injury prevention and mental health.

I mean, if you are at any function, more than likely, a Crossfitter will be telling you how hectic their workout was, how broken they are and how much pain they are in.

If you have a CrossFit friend, you will understand the joke; if not, ask one but make sure you set aside time for about a two-hour conversation.

It is demotivating when you put your heart and soul into training and end up constantly being in acute pain.

Imagine being sore or stiff every week for 10 years. It will eventually affect your mood, desire to train, and willingness to push harder at each training session.

Pain and inflammation are part of the game, but recovery strategies help reduce the severity of pain and kickstart and speed up the recovery process.

Add these five strategies to your game plan and start enjoying your training again.

1 Hydration – if you feel thirsty, more than likely, you are under-hydrated. Water is the critical ingredient for all processes to work efficiently. It helps lubricate and cushion your joints, regulates temperature, and helps with cellular functioning. A little trick boxers and pro athletes do is to weigh themselves before and after a practice or game and before they leave the training grounds. They must replace their body weight loss with water and electrolytes.

2 Static stretching – after your workout, your muscles are warm and your range of motion is at its greatest. Spend some time holding with slight push back resistance for each muscle group for 10 to 15 seconds. This advice is a gold nugget. Very few people stretch post-workout, and that is why professional players are forced to stretch because the club and sports science team know this helps in reducing injuries.

3 Ice baths – cold water immersion has been used for generations, and the ice helps in pain management by numbing the affected area. It also helps flush out toxins, hormones, and lactic acid from the muscles.

4 Sauna – the benefit of a sauna is endless, but the main reasons are to help tense muscles relax and thus taking stress off your attached joint. The heat from the sauna elevates your body temperature and brings blood flow to your skin which helps flush out additional toxins from your body. Studies have shown that saunas help in maintaining your body’s regulated temperature and improve endurance.

5 Anti-inflammatories – Inflammation in moderation is good; it’s your body’s natural way of dealing with repair. Too much inflammation is not, and elevates your pain and discomfort. Food that you need to add to your meals and snacks are blueberries, cherries, almonds, walnuts, spinach, kale, and olives, to name but a few.