Ep. #606: Paul Ingraham on the Art and Science of Staying Injury-Free

Nobody likes getting hurt.

Well, besides masochists, of course.

But seriously, getting injured sucks. Pain is annoying at best or excruciating at worst, but that’s not necessarily even the worst part. If you try to work through the pain, you’ll usually end up even worse off. So, injuries not only prevent you from working out comfortably, but they often keep us out of the gym altogether.

In turn, this slows down your progress or even brings your fitness goals to a complete halt.

Most people fear serious, acute injuries from lifting weights. The truth is weightlifting isn’t nearly as dangerous as many people think, and one of the most common issues us gym-goers face is repetitive stress injuries (RSIs).

That’s why I called in a true RSI expert, Paul Ingraham, the founder of PainScience.com who spends all day writing about pain and injuries. In this episode, we chat about ...

The underlying mechanisms behind overuse injuries
How you can prevent RSIs and treat chronic pain
Why you might not want to take anti-inflammatory drugs
The best ways to fix an RSI and whether topical medicines can help
The important of “load management”
When it’s time to see a doctor
And more ...

So if you want to learn about how to avoid RSIs and how to make them go away when they do occur so you can keep training and live pain-free, hit that play button!

7:36 - What is repetitive stress syndrome?

19:22 - What can you do to help with chronic pain?

24:24 - What is your protocol for resolving repetitive strain injury?

34:29 - Under what circumstances would this be a good idea to try topical medicine?

42:01 - What do you mean by “managing load”?

59:00 - What should you do if your body hasn’t recovered after 6 weeks?

1:03:43 - How can you prevent repetitive strain injury?

1:08:02 - How do we find the spots where our muscles are irritated?

1:12:14 - Can deloading help prevent repetitive stress injury?

1:16:14 - Where can people find you and your work?

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Mentioned on The Show:

Paul Ingraham's website and mentioned articles:

https://www.painscience.com/about

https://www.painscience.com/RSIs

https://www.painscience.com/ArtOfRest

https://www.painscience.com/structuralism

https://www.painscience.com/pain_is_weird

Paul Ingraham's Books: https://www.painscience.com/books.php

Paul Ingraham's Twitter: https://twitter.com/painsci

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