Use your brain when you run and avoid injury. It is not a game.
An Abstract referring to tendon development and injury:
ismni.org
Tendon disorders are frequent, and are responsible for much morbidity both in sport and the workplace. Although the presence of degenerative changes does not always lead to symptoms, pre-existing degeneration has been implicated as a risk factor for acute tendon rupture. The term tendinopathy is a generic descriptor of the clinical conditions in and around tendons arising from overuse. The terms "tendinosis" and "tendinitis/tendonitis" should only be used after histopathological examination.
Disordered healing is seen in tendinopathy, and inflammation is not typically seen. In acute injuries, the process of tendon healing is an indivisible process that can be categorized into three overlapping phases for descriptive purposes. Tendon healing can occur intrinsically, via proliferation of epitenon and endotenon tenocytes, or extrinsically, by invasion of cells from the surrounding sheath and synovium. Despite remodeling, the biochemical and mechanical properties of healed tendon tissue never match those of intact tendon. Tendon injuries account for considerable morbidity, and often prove disabling for several months,
despite what is considered appropriate management . Chronic problems caused by overuse of tendons probably account for 30% of all running-related injuries and the prevalence of elbow tendinopathy in tennis players can be as high as 40% 3. The basic cell biology of tendons is still not fully understood, and the management of tendon injury poses a considerable challenge for clinicians. This article describes the structure of tendons, and reviews the pathophysiology of tendon injury and healing.
What this says is that we don't know a lot about how tendons heal. We do know that overuse is the primary cause of injury. So.....if you are an athlete, without meg bucks, then the best course of action is to avoid injury.
How does one avoid injury. Well..not overusing them is the primary factor. However overuse is a moving target and even among the aging tendons strengthen and develop. BUT as the article and a lot of very smart people agree: Once your injure a tendon....its just a chit storm and it takes a long time to heal, and then it doesn't heal quite like it was.
Therefore. If you have any sense, and you like to exercise then keeping an eye on your tendons, your knee tendons if you are a runner, is the very smartest thing to do. Pain is your body telling you that overuse is occurring. Simple, if you are in pain after a run then overuse is occurring.
Now....ice is a panacea. It is not a cure for anything. It reduces blood flow to areas screaming for blood. It numbs the pain. It is not something that you want to do every day or regularly if you are coming home in pain. What you want to do is pull back in your routine because you need TIME for the tendons to develop to the point of being able to carry you through the work out you so stupidly have devised for yourself. Remember, your muscles are months or years ahead of your tendonsin their development cycle. Pulling tendons, tearing tendons, these are issues of self inflicted wounds. Your muscles pulled the weaker tendons right off the bone. It wasn't some slip or fall, it was the tendon giving way causing the fall.
Ice is a great substance. I use it on occasion. But I do not recommend using it to cure regular tendon pain. One is simply masking the problem and failing to realize that you have driven your body beyond its limits.
I have a taken a host of Anatomy and Physiology courses, I have all the background stuff for a nursing degree. I have about 9 100 mile runs to my credit and a half dozen runs over 100 miles. I ran for 60 hours straight on my 60th birthday--trail miles over nasty terrain--three nights just to make it fun. I don't count the short stuff or the years of long training runs. In that time I have watched many friends ruin themselves trying to be what they wanted to be way before their time. They are now gone from the long run. They may putz around with ten milers and marathons if they are lucky. Some play the Tri game. But they are done with the long run because they blew out a knee or a tendon and that was that.
Do your run, and listen to your body. Back off when it tells you to. Learn the dialogue. Come home and judge yourself based on the later levels of pain and soreness your feel. Learn what is soreness and what is pain. Understand when you have injured yourself. Do yourself a big favor and avoid injury related pain.
Most people are just too damn impatient. They want to run like the wind as soon as they can. Their muscles respond quickly and they are flying. But its a false reality. Put stress on the tendons, they give, and down you go.
I stick by what I have advised. Caution is the advised. Long walks are the best thing your can do for yourself. As far as one single health issue, besides not smoking a history of long walks will do more to lengthen your life and improve you health. Over time you can make them more intense. Work up to sixty trail miles in 24 hours and tell me it isn't a hard-ass venture. Run if you want but be very careful. Hell ice your knees if it suits you, but don't fool yourself into thinking it has cured anything, and done anymore than mask a potential problem. |
