how far do you go w/ an injury?

[Brett Hagmann]

i've been pushin through a possible broken bone in my foot for a month now. Its swollen up only on this one inch diameter on the top part of my foot. I can push through it but it kills to jump rope on it and anything high impact. How do you guys treat and react to your injuries?

[Matt Meinrod]

I'm not sure what a "possible broken bone" is. It's either broken or it isn't. Remember the line the coach gave Darnell Jefferson in The Program? he said, "are you injured or are you hurt"? Jefferson says "what's the difference?" If you're injured you can't play and you need to go sit on the side...if you're hurt, shake it off and get back in the game.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, first find out if you're really injured or just have a boo boo.

Then if you're really injured take some time off or ask your strength coach to rearrange your program so you can lay off it a bit.

If you're just hurt, ice ice ice, take a few days off, IBprofen, massage, stretch, stem and/or ultrasound.

[Ian Duggan]

I knackered my ankle a while ago and after a fairly short rest period (two weeks maybe) I tried to play / push through it and now I really wish I'd rested it and got it seen to properly. It's never been completely pain free since (over a year ago), my range of motion has definitely decreased, it's always stiff after I've been on it a lot and the swelling never went down, the fluid to be replaced by scar tissue (it turned out that I torn the ankle ligament on the outside of my right ankle).

Not saying this is a reason why you should rest, but as Matt said make sure you know exactly what's wrong with you before you make a decision on what you can and can't do. Pushing through it short-term could screw you long-term.

I hope it's nothing serious dude.

[Brett Hagmann]

i say "possible broken bone" because i just saw an orthopedic trainer today and she did these "tests" on my foot...and my foot "passed" the broken bone test, but she said i should go get an X-ray to rule it out since there is accute pain in one specific spot. See what im talkin about? What kind of injuries do you just suck it up and keep poundin away? I've iced/heated this for the past 2 weeks and nothing has changed. I'm not at the summer sessions in raleigh, im training on my own in greensboro....so i am my own strength coach right now.

[davebeers]

i don't push through any injuries...especially bones.
I did this back in high school when my back started hurting my senior year while playing football. I was having a great year and had miami scouts coming to my games...so i kept pushing through the pain. Finally, the pain had me sidelined and when i went to the doc i found out i had a fracture in 2 vertebrae. I took me a long time to heal up and i did not get any looks from colleges since i was injured.

Don't stop doing everything, but get it checked out and figure out exactly what's wrong so you can get started rehabbing it.

[Matt Meinrod]

It all depends on what the injury is to whether you push through or take time off.

I guess you should ask yourself a few questions: Can you run? Can you do explosive lifts (snatch, clean)? And finally, how bad does it hurt to do those two things. If you're gimping around and can't get shit done, then obvsiously take time off. But if you're 80-90% I'd say push through (unless X-rays comeback and its broken). Any athlete can tell you nobody EVER plays at 100% feeling great no pain.

[Brandon Campbell]

Sounds like it can be a hairline stress fracture, if thats case i would seriously stay off it for a couple weeks. Just dont do the high impact stuff. Stress fractures have the tendency to turn into big painful breaks if ya dont pay attention to them.

I had many injuries including both my thumbs dislocated and ligaments torn in them. I popped them back in on the field and that was it. Should of did some PT on them cause even now they work half ass. I still cant pinch grip with my pointer finger and thumb. Its hard to use keys to open doors!

Bascially what im saying is look at yourself and the possible injury, can you deal with the possibilities that could happen if something major is wrong. Think of it like that. Alot of times its something stupid and minor and can just ignore it, sometimes its a major injury but cna still be ignored, sometimes it needs serious attention. Thats all for you to decide and be hoenst with yourself when making that decision. Thats all i do and i never had problems dealing with injuries

[Josh Kamins]

Just go to the doc and get an x-ray, it should be pretty easy to do.