We are now a year into this pandemic. What a year it has been!
One thing that has changed for a lot of people is our exercise habits. Due to the various stages of lockdowns, some people have started exercising more and some have started exercising less. This has led to some interesting outcomes with regards to getting an injury from that. My co-host on PodChatLive, Ian Griffiths, was the first one to use the word “coverload” to describe some of the problems that are being seen.
The human body is remarkable and can adapt to exercise loads that are put on it, providing those loads are increased slowly and gradually and the body is given enough rest to adapt to those loads. If there is insufficient time given for the body to adapt then an overuse injury is often the result from those loads being too high for the body to take.
What is happening in those who might, for example, run 2-3 times a week start running 6-7 times a week during a COVID-19 related lockdown as we are generally still allowed to exercise. That can be too much for the body to handle as not enough time was given for the body to adapt to the increased loads, so on overuse injury might result; ie coverload.
On the other hand some people exercised less during the lockdowns as, for example, the gyms were closed. This meant that the tissues in the body de-adapted to the exercise loads. After the lockdown was over they went back to the gym and started exercising body parts that were not yet ready to take the loads that were being applied, so an injury might result; ie coverload.
All this means that you need to make sure that your body is given time to adapt to any increasing load that is place on it. Be careful and take you time. Don’t be a victim of coverload.
