Types of injuries we can sustain while working out part 2....

     In part one of this miniseries, we explore how macro trauma can affect our bones, joints, muscles and tendons. In part two we explore how microtrauma can affect our bones and connective tissue. 

    If macro trauma is sudden, specific overload type injury that happens at once, micro trauma is an overuse injury that comes from repeated stress applied to a tissue or bone. Typically, micro trauma is caused by continuous training or training with too little recovery time. Best example is a starting baseball pitcher. Remember the Yankees Red Sox playoff game where Red Sox manager left Pedro in and the Yankees came back to win? That is a prime example of micro trauma. If a pitcher pitches 9 innings (unheard of in today's game.... bear with me) and throws 110 pitches, then it would be wise for that particular pitcher to rest a few days for the shoulder to recover. In this example many factors are at play, time of game (day games in Georgia are different then day games in Chicago), stress of game (playoffs vs regular season game in May) and type pitches that pitcher throws. A knuckleballer could throw again in a few days while a pitcher who throws 100 MPH may need more rest.

     In the strength and conditioning world micro trauma can come from training errors such as program design or excessive volume. Suboptimal surfaces can also play a factor. Consistency hard running on concrete or high intensity plyometrics are examples of this. Back in high school I was running track and our track at the time was old and beat up. I'm talking about the rubberized material fading leaving straight concrete. For someone unconditioned to running I suffered micro trauma in my shins causing a stress fracture in my tibia. This is one of the reasons why I am very particular when selecting running shoes and only train a few days a week unless I can find a trail. Nutrition and training history can also play a factor as well. Poor nutrition that excludes calcium for example can potentially lead to micro injuries in the bone. We know that calcium is needed for muscle contractions and if not, enough calcium is ingested then muscles take calcium away from bones. One of the many adaptations to resistance training is stronger bone structure. 

  Tendons operate the same way in terms of trauma. Repeated overuse with no rest often leads to tendinitis. Recovery can last a few days to a few weeks if treated properly. When tendinitis is left untreated then chronic tendinitis can occur which requires a longer recovery timeframe.

    To summarize micro trauma is repeated overuse of stress applied to tissue. More often than not micro trauma applies to bones and tendons. Bones can suffer from stress fractures and tendons can develop tendonitis. Both injuries are commonly caused by overtraining, excessive volume or inadequate rest cycles. Rest is typically the prescribed medicine for both.