SATURDAY, Nov. 1, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- Not long after Lance Armstrong triumphed over cancer, he noticed a recurring pain in his left shoulder while he was training.
The five-time Tour de France cycling champion and his coach, Chris Carmichael, looked in vain for a reason and even began to wonder if the cancer had come back.
"At first we thought the cancer had returned. Then we looked at his position on the bike," Carmichael said.
The culprit was, in fact, much simpler and more benign. It was also staring them right in the face, or at about torso level. Armstrong had recently acquired a new bike that had a handlebar width of 40 centimeters. The handlebars of his previous bike measured 42 centimeters across. Armstrong switched the handlebars and, almost immediately, felt the pain start to recede.
Armstrong was suffering from an overuse injury, caused from repetitive trauma to the tissue. According to the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, some common overuse injuries are to the rotator cuff (the shoulder), tennis elbow, jumper's knee (common in basketball and volleyball) and Achilles tendonitis (seen frequently in runners).
Clearly, you're more likely to suffer an overuse injury if you're biking hundreds of miles a week in preparation for the Tour de France. But as thousands of first-time marathoners head for the New York City Marathon on Sunday, it helps to keep in mind some tried-and-true rules:
- Follow the 10 percent rule, Carmichael advises. This means making sure that you don't increase your training load (either intensity or volume) by more than 10 percent in any given week.
- Try a heat pack 15 to 20 minutes before the activity, followed by a slow warm-up activity.
- Stretch several times a day.
- Cool down after each exercise session.
- Get plenty of sleep.
- If you're a runner, the American Academy of Family Physicians recommends limiting yourself to 45 miles in a week and running only on soft, flat terrain.
- A diet high in antioxidants (that means fruits and vegetables) can help your body recover, says Deena Drossin, who holds the U.S. female marathon record.
- Drink plenty of fluids.
- If you do get injured, the conventional wisdom is to treat it with "RICE." This means Rest (reducing use or stopping use for 48 hours), Ice (apply an ice pack to the injured area several times a day for no more than 20 minutes at a time), Compression (by using bandages, splints or air casts) and Elevation (keep the injured area above the level of the heart). Carmichael believes the "R" in "RICE" could stand for "relative rest," which means cross-training, so as not to drop out completely.
- Don't cut out training completely. This can lead to demoralization and can be the "kiss of death" for many athletes, Carmichael says.
More information
The
Mayo Clinic has details on some stretching exercises. Here is the official site for the
New York City Marathon.
