Spring is slowly setting here in our unpredictable corner of the world and we are antsy to get back outside and back to hiking, running, gardening, and all of the other stuff that’s  off-limits during the darker months. Exciting!! What’s not exciting: throwing yourself back into that stuff and having your knee or shoulder feel like trash after you go too hard. It’s a dilemma, but we have some advice to try to avoid crashing and burning. Prepare your muscles and pace yourself! 

Have you ever worked too long in your yard or hiked extra miles while enjoying the first few days of sun and warmth just to pay for it later? A lot of injuries end up being the fallout of a boom/bust lifestyle: going hard at something for a few months and then doing nothing to keep your body primed for it during your off-season. A good strength training program can keep your tissue resilience high and joints prepared for high load and high reps. Love running? That’s great! But keep in mind-every run is a few thousand or more reps of body weight for your legs to propel and you need to keep them strong for that!. Keep some lifting in your routine when you can’t get out to hike or trail run and you’ll be a lot more likely to have a better time getting back into it. Test yourself: can you do 30 calf raises on one leg? What about 10 step ups to a knee height step while holding 50% of your body weight? If not, get lifting! Check out our YouTube channel for hip and knee strength workouts to guide you. 

Another big injury trigger is doing too much too soon. Whether it’s running, rowing, or gardening, if you go from nothing back to the same level of activity you were rocking at the end of your last season, you’re putting yourself at risk of some pretty PO’d muscles and joints. Start with shorter bursts of lower intensity and build your foundation slowly. Add a little more duration and intensity every week—think around 10% increases. If you overdo it, dial it back a bit instead of totally resting. If you’re getting back to running after a winter off, do some run/walk intervals and gradually shift the balance to more running, then add speed/hills. If you’re hiking, go for a few miles on some mellower trails before you start peak bagging.   

Not sure where to begin?  Need some more guidance? Together we can develop a plan to get you trail/river/garden ready. Sometimes, even with the best of intentions, we still end up with a nagging issue or injury anyway, so if you find yourself in that situation, come see us. If you want more tailored info or screening on your body’s readiness for your spring activities, come see us for that too—most insurances don’t require a referral and we can set you on the right path back to enjoying our fleeting months of sunshine. 

                                 - Written by Sydney Williams, PT, DPT