Dysfunction Threshold

When discussing what is essentially an overuse issue I often use the term dysfunction threshold.

While injuries can often be a result of crashing, falling or often doing dumb stuff, an injury through overuse can often be avoided.  So rather than having to resort to pills, creams, K tape or health professionals after the fact this months blog is more about you being proactive - oh and booking in for a massage.

I sum it up as the following. 

Dysfunction Threshold:  The point at which our body can no longer balance training / life load versus imbalances and dysfunction. 

What I mean is that most of us are not perfect and we all have some form of dysfunction whether it be from life, work, poor technique or genetics.  In our normal everyday lives our bodies can generally cope with a certain amount of dysfunction. Often it is when you are training for an event without addressing any potential issues that you generally encounter problems.   It’s the point that our bodies shout enough as it can no longer deal with the stresses we are loading on it.

There is a reason that you will often hear people talking about training for a big event and the comment is “it was going really well then six weeks out from the race I got injured”.  

Interestingly six weeks out from a big event is generally the point of maximum load.  

My perspective as an athlete, a massage therapist and a coach is how to avoid breakdown at critical training load.  In accordance with the fact that everybody leads a different life there is no simple answer other than taking a moment to honestly assess you the individual and look at ways to reduce the risk of injury for you.

My top tips, in no particular order are:

Practice good form and technique. 

•  You need to find out that relative to your sport and you the individual. 

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​Strength and conditioning relative to your sport is a good investment in reducing injury risk.

Change takes time so you need to allow the body to adapt to any change in training load or change in technique.       

Never underestimate the power of recovery·       

Often it is the things we do in our everyday lives that can have the biggest impact. 

• How we stand.
• What we do for a Job
• Genetics – or as I like to say “our parents fault”
• Stretching and resetting you back to your body’s norm is always beneficial.
• Check your gear:
  • ​​Worn out running shoes or even cycling cleats and shoes can often be a factor in injuries

Massage.

• A great way to recover from hard training
• Fantastic for avoiding injury
• A good way to identify any potential issues before they happen
• And it’s very easy to just book on line – that’s a hint.

 
Just a little foot note to all this.  I just want to remind you that we have all had life happen and that none of us are perfect and that when I talk of good form it is relative to you and where you are at.  Most of us are not capable of swimming like Phelps or running like Mo Farah and trying to do any of those would ​

It is about what works for you the individual – case in point is Paula Radcliffe (pictured above - photo credit Ramon Smits). If you look at her run you would shake your head in dismay, yet she set a world record for the marathon and it is a case of her technique works for her and her body.  And yes there is an argument that if she had better form she would go faster.  I find that fascinating because would that hypothetical concept of good form just create more issues for her the individual or would she in fact have gone faster. That’s a conversation over beers in a pub if ever there was. 
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And while I have used sport as an example of the dysfunction threshold it also applies to other aspects of life.  Work stress, relationship issues pretty much anything that tips us over the edge to either physical or mental melt down.  Often those things are intertwined in a complex mix. 

In some of those cases it is not always an easy solution of identifying what is the dysfunction in our life.   

It might mean we need help, it might mean we need to listen to those who care or it might be a case of making change within ourselves. 

So to sum up – none of us are perfect, be mindful of your weakness and just look after yourself by being proactive rather than reactive.  Never lose sight of the fact that you are an individual and that no one lives your life but you. 

So go have fun,  live the dream and do not forget to book a massage as step 1 to being proactive.
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Peace out - John
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