How Runners Can Manage and Overcome Pain

We’ve all heard stories of sportsmen and women who have continued despite an injury which (theoretically) should have caused them to stop: a boxer with a broken hand, rugby players with torn ligaments, a long jumper with a strained hamstring etc. In the cut and thrust of competition, the pain system can ‘shut the gate’, and athletes are able to continue in spite of injured tissue. However, once your attention is drawn back to the acute pain (particularly following competition), awareness of the pain becomes strong again.
So, should you ignore pain and try to shrug off an injury? Acute sensitisation is a normal, helpful process to encourage you to stop using the injured tissue and avoid further damage. It might be helpful to ask yourself the three questions below:

• Can you cope with the pain?
• Are you able to contribute a meaningful performance?
• What are the consequences of continuing?

There are a few other questions, which are perhaps even more important. We’ll get to these later. But remember, acute pain usually occurs for a good reason. It makes sense to seek professional advice as soon as you can. Sometimes people can overcome acute pain and continue to compete, but that doesn’t necessarily make it a wise decision!

To ultimately address the relationship between pain and sport however, it is necessary to consider one further aspect of pain: your own ‘personal values’. We’ve already considered the three Cs as a guide to considering how to act in the presence of pain; however, as anyone involved with sport knows, making decisions about athletes in pain is often a judgement call. The three C questions only have meaning if we add a further, more personal line of questioning:

• Am I prepared to cope?
• How important is contributing a worthwhile performance to me?
• Am I prepared to suffer the consequences?

The dos and don’ts of pain and performance:
As explained above, everyone responds differently to pain stimuli, responses that may vary according to social and emotional environments and even expectation. However, here are a few tips that all athletes and coaches should bear in mind:
DO

• Acknowledge pain – Pain is pain. It is not ‘physical or mental’. Coaches and other team members should understand that showing empathy is normal and helpful.
• Seek professional advice – Consult a sports doctor or physiotherapist for any acute, ongoing or recurrent pain.
• Recover and rehabilitate – Focus on allowing the tissue time to heal and work to become strong and fit again.

DON’T

• Be too concerned – Too much focus and attention on pain is counter productive to sporting performance.
• Fear pain – Hearsay stories of similar pains ending careers are unhelpful. Pain is a normal part of sport; don’t let it become a catastrophe.
• Punish or reward – Being angry at or ignoring athletes is as unhelpful as being over attentive. Remain positive, interested and constructive.

‘People who develop an exaggerated, negative mindset towards their ongoing pain have
been shown to experience both increased pain and emotional distress’

Some people can continually and repeatedly overcome pain for the sake of their sport because they are prepared to.Sometimes they are rewarded with success, and sometimes, despite their desire to cope and contribute, their body succumbs to the consequences. Winners and heroes overcome pain sometimes. Losers often try and fail. Perhaps the most successful sports people are those who best understand the relationship between pain and performance: they are prepared to overcome pain, but make wise, informed decisions about when it is worthwhile trying to do so.