What is an Overuse Injury?
Overuse injuries refer to injuries sustained from repeated action (such as repetitive strain injury) as opposed to acute injuries, which occur in an instant (such as a sprained ankle).
Overuse Injuries Can Occur to the Following Structures:
- Tendons: tendinopathies
- Muscle-tendon structures (e.g. tennis elbow)
- Soft tissue compartments (e.g. compartment syndrome)
- Periosteum cartilage, which is the covering of the bone (e.g. shin splints)
- Bursa (e.g. bursitis)
- Nerve tissue (e.g. neural mechanosensitivity)
- Bone (e.g. stress fractures).
Exercise applies stress to the body. Your body adapts by thickening and strengthening the various tissues involved. Hence, muscles get stronger, firmer and sometimes larger, tendons get stronger and bone density increases.
However, if exercise is applied in such a way that adaptation cannot occur, the excessive overload can cause microscopic injuries, leading to inflammation, which is the body's response to injury.
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