You’ve done everything you can to avoid injury. You focused on fueling and hydration, followed a well-balanced strength and conditioning program, removed intensity when needed, and diversified your training to include a multisport approach.

You leveraged all of the strategies Matt covered in the first two episodes of our three-part series on injury prevention and management.

Despite your best efforts, you now find yourself fending off the niggles and worry about it becoming a larger issue.

In our final segment on breaking the injury cycle, Matt moves beyond strategies for injury prevention and digs into the painful reality of coping with nagging injuries.

In this episode of the Purple Patch Podcast, Matt provides insight, based on patterns he has seen as a coach over many years, on how to avoid getting stuck in a cycle of injury and successfully emerge ready to train and compete.

Matt shares 6 principles that are important to apply a smart and pragmatic approach to overcoming the niggles and injuries.

• Understanding Your Injury

(12:28) "If you're going to manage through any soft tissue, or even bone injury, it's really important that you spend the time to investigate what is actually going on, and how to manage."

• Preventing a Niggle from Becoming an Injury

(25:55) "with tugs, or tightness, a general rule is to actually allow your body to do its thing. In other words, as I like to say, leave it the heck alone."

(26:27) "The body is really good at regressing to the mean, in other words, restoring, adapting, recuperating, and you don't want to intervene with that process."

• Avoiding Detraining

(30:23) "You are a multi-sport athlete. And so we want to ensure that we double down and ensure that we don't de-train across the other elements. You are an athlete. And we need to ensure that we maintain an athlete mindset and approach almost every situation no matter what happens as much as we can."

• Embracing the Four Pillars of Performance

(42:35) "When you do experience a little bit of a niggle or do have to navigate injury, you want to really double down on those two pillars, great nutritional support, and really focusing on destressing, and prioritizing sleep and downtime."

• Following the Guidelines of Re-entry

(43:06) "The most harm, and an extension of an injury, tends to occur as an athlete has got over the initial symptoms and begins to actually progress back to regular training."

• Leverage the Opportunity of Adversity

(50:41) "Every time that you face in a niggle or injury, there are always lessons to be drawn. And that is a part of growth, of becoming smarter about your body or developing autonomy, and in fact, a platform for you ultimately, to build resilience. "

Episode Timestamps

00:00 - 02:19 - Welcome and Episode Introduction

02:26 - 04:56 - Matt's News-ings

05:10 - 08:46 - Word of the Week

8:54 - Episode 237: Breaking the Injury Cycle (Part 3) - 6 Principles of Injury Management

Purple Patch Video Podcast and More

Episode 230: Breaking the Injury Cycle (Part 1) - 5 Keys to Prevention and Lowering Risk

Episode 233: Breaking the Injury Cycle (Part 2) - The Role of Nutrition

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