I have seen an increasing number of articles by football coaches in which they say that they want players with greater toughness. These players must be able to ”suck it up” and play through pain. This is their criterion of toughness which they believe is the key to a successful player. They say that they do not want the players to play with an injury, only when they are in pain.
But how is an athlete supposed to determine when he is injured as opposed to being in pain? Pain is indicative of an injury! Because of this the recommendation to train through pain can exacerbate any pain or injury that the athlete may have. It may be considered the “macho” thing to do, but it generally results in greater damage to the muscles and tissues involved.
It is important to understand that sensing pain is the way the body tells you that something is amiss. Pain means that you have damaged the body in some respect and it needs time for healing. If you instead continue to do your activity as though nothing happened, the injury will worsen. In essence, we must learn to respect pain and deal with it so that the body can recover the insult without further damage.
In many cases, light activity is beneficial to increase circulation which, in turn, can help speed up the healing. If you have a regular workout and especially if there is a high degree of intensity in the workout, it can further exacerbate the problem. Keep in mind that the workout that you are doing was probably the cause of the injury or pain. Thus it should be closely examined.
Most important for an athlete is to learn to distinguish pain from soreness. Usually pain is acute and sharp. Soreness is more like a dull ache, through which you can often work out, but only if the intensity is low. Regardless of the type of pain that you have, any workout that you do at this time should be at a very low intensity level.
Also important is to use natural whole food anti-inflammatories to reduce inflammation which is typically associated with an injury or pain. Also some whole food products to strengthen the ligaments tendons and connective tissues that are usually involved in an injury or when there is pain.
After treating the injury you should check on what is causing the pain. In this way, you can prevent it from happening again. In any case, you should never work out or play when experiencing real pain. Is your first warning that something is damaged and is in need of repair.