I was feeling pretty old last night and bummed-out after being injured yesterday. But the more I thought, I remembered a post by Dante Trudel (inventor of the Doggcrapp training program) about getting injured. To paraphrase, he pointed out that if you are really training hard and you get after it in the weight room, you will likely get injured at one time or another. To not get hurt likely means that you aren’t pushing yourself hard enough. Fitness-folk will always treat injuries as if it’s due to irresponsibility of “being macho”, yet in no other sport is being injured considered this way. Groin pulls, hamstring pulls, ankle sprains are all a part of giving your all and part of the job.

Unfortunately when you get older, you don’t have that Adrian Peterson recovery any longer.

Just ask Derek Jeter:

“Jeter, 39, played in just 17 games this season as he recovered from two ankle surgeries. Jeter fractured his left ankle in Game 1 of the 2012 American League Championship Series, came back to play in spring-training games, but underwent a second procedure in April. He made his season debut on July 11, but immediately suffered a quadriceps injury, and has been dogged by leg ailments since. Jeter hasn’t played since Saturday, complaining of more pain in his left ankle.

“It’s very disappointing not to be able to play,” Jeter said at a press conference at Baltimore’s Camden Yards, before the Yankees played the Orioles, “especially this time of year. This is when I want to play the most.” 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/yankees/2013/09/11/derek-jeter-yankees-injury-season-over/2801329/

Pre-bed treatment: BioFreeze

A.M. Treatment – Ice bag – 30 minutes / 2x200mg ibuprofen

Noon  Treatment – BioFreeze

Moderate stretching as I get up from my desk frequently just to kneel on one knee.

Afternoon Treatment – Ice bag – 30 minutes

Tonight – Ice bag – 30 minutes

Good part:

My hips actually feel better than they did this time last week. Shifting the Stang last week was brutal! I could barely flex my legs and had to depend a lot on dorsiflexion to move my feet to handle the pedals.

Bad part:

I’m walking with more of a noticeable limp than last week. Walking and standing without my butt sticking out is very difficult (and I’m not a flat-booty brotha either), but it is actually quite painful to push my hips forward as it stretches the hip flexor muscles. My glutes are also sore as well, because yesterday I had to continuously use them to extend my stride when my feet hit the ground since I could not get my leg high in the air to propel my body. Times like now, you’re definitely remind of what a marvelously integrated-system God designed.

Of course the atheists out there would say evolution did it.  But they would never go out and not have their car start one day and just not take it to a mechanic. But perhaps it has evolved to another state for no reason? Oh, just leave it there for 100,000 years and then it’ll turn into a perfectly running Boeing 757.

But I digress…

Take a look at the diagram below and you’ll get an idea of all of the muscles involved just for us to walk and run (e.g. hip extension and hip flexion are only two motions!)

In my next post, I’ll introduce you to the best drug/therapy you can use for most injuries, and it’s probably not what you think!

CSD