Stiffness? Cramping? Are those signs of an impending injury?
Are minor annoyances like stiffness or cramping signs of a more severe injury to come? How do you know when it’s time to see a physical therapist instead of continuing to climb through it? (And how many of us are guilty of the second one?)
In British slang, a “niggle” is a trifling complaint, dispute, or criticism, but another definition is a slight but persistent annoyance, discomfort, or aggravation. If you’ve been climbing for a while, you’ve probably dealt with a “niggle” more than once.
A group of Australian PhDs in biomedical sciences and exercise physiology were curious to learn how “niggles” may impact longer-term injuries in athletes. More specifically, they conducted a study to research whether these annoying discomforts resulted in more severe injuries in football players. Yes, football players, not climbers. Just follow… because the results are relevant to climbers too.
The study included 218 semi-professional football players from Australia. They tracked non-time loss injuries (non-TL), aka “niggles,” and time-loss (TL) injuries over an entire 35-week season. Non-time loss would be considered an injury of minimal or moderate severity that does not impact the athlete’s ability to play or participate. Time-loss injuries are serious enough to put the athlete out of commission.
The researchers found that a player’s risk of a time-loss/severe injury was 3-6x higher if they had a non-time loss injury the previous week. So, a player who continues to play through a minor injury is at a high risk for a more severe injury. This may seem intuitive, but how many of you continue to run, climb, hike, ski, and just adventure with those minor discomforts?
I can imagine “niggles” may include many things. Muscle cramps and spasms occur when your muscle involuntarily and forcibly contracts and cannot relax. They are quite common and can be due to muscle fatigue, dehydration, depletion of electrolytes, and stress. Other less common causes can include vitamin deficiencies and dysfunctions of the nervous system.
Trigger points are discrete, focal, highly irritable bands within a muscle. These can develop due to chronic microtrauma (poor posture or mechanics) or acute trauma and be located in different areas of the body.
Whether it is a cramp, spasm, or trigger point, it is likely you are doing something to your muscle that it does not appreciate. It responds by shortening, going to it’s safe place. For example, during an intramural softball game, my friend showed up late and decided a triple sounded better than a double. He already had some hamstring tightness and of course, did not warm up. Bam, pulled hammy. He took his hamstring somewhere it did not want to go, a sprint, and it responded by tightening up to prevent him from repeating the motion.
“Whether it is a cramp, spasm, or trigger point, it is likely you are doing something to your muscle that it does not appreciate.”
Tissue damage and pain DO NOT correlate.
I’ve seen some MRIs that leave me scratching my head like… “Hmmm, this does not look bad, but this person reports 10/10 pain.” I’ve also had a physician say, “It looks like a bomb went off in this guy’s back” only to see the patient return to playing basketball pain-free in six weeks with that “bomb” spine.
The researchers hit on this when they said, “in overuse injuries, tissue failure may already be present before the development of pain and performance deficits, with dysfunction in a local area potentially impacting on pathology in neighboring areas.” Ah ha… so athletes are fantastic at developing compensatory patterns to move around discomfort.
Am I saying stop every time you feel tightness? NO! Is there a reason? Are you dehydrated? Are you used to climbing 1-2 times per week and now you’re pulling a double in Little? Many times, there is a rational explanation, but continuing to push through minor pain and discomfort can make these “niggles” more than just a nuisance. Always check in with your body. Is that elbow bothering you during typing or normal everyday activities? Not a good sign.
This is exactly why we offer injury screens here at Rogue Rehab. Many times, I advise just a few days off to calm things down. Sometimes, it is just a little too much and rest will do the job. Once that problem feeds into other problems, however, that is when things are not so simple. Your best bet is to not let it get to that point.
As physical therapists at Rogue Rehabilitation and Performance on the second floor of the OG gym in our Salt Lake facility, we’re able to help you evaluate your pain or injury and assess for compensatory patterns. Schedule a visit today and let us help you keep your warning sirens quiet.
Members receive 10% off all services.
By Adam Schiltz PT, DPT, OCS, CSCS
Rogue Rehab Physical Therapist
Learn more about Adam and Rogue Rehabilitation and schedule your visit here!
