Tuesday, July 10, 2012

TMTS...Now What?

In my mind, I have been taking a fairly conservative approach to minimalist running, but a nagging foot twinge (I refuse to call it an injury) that didn't stop until I took a full week of rest from running, might argue against that belief.  

So, obviously you can't trust my advice.  Reviewing the many sites that discuss minimalist or barefoot running injuries and assuming that you haven't seriously injured yourself, the advice from Vibram's My Five Fingers site is this,  
"So if you push it too hard anyway, keep limber afterward. Don’t over-stretch damaged muscles; just keep moving. When you’re training muscles with strenuous loading, you’re actually tearing muscle fibers that you body then has to mend with scar tissue. Stretching muscles that are torn up just makes those repairs harder and slower. But keeping some gentle movement going will help flush blood into the muscles and help flush lactic acid out."

This seems to be the general school of thought for most muscular pain...so, for future aches and non-serious pains, my game plan is to not run or stretch through the pain, but to simply walk it out.

Of course, if you think you've overdone it, please consult with your sports medicine doctor.


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