Injury Protocol

As a coach, I see a wide variety of athletes and how they deal with injuries. While some athletes are very logical about their approach, others get swept away by their emotions and just push through the pain (often to their own peril). I am not with the athletes I coach 100% of the time, so I cannot always tell an athlete to stop what they are doing. My solution has been to develop an injury protocol for the athletes I coach so that my expectations are clear: when an injury presents itself during a workout, the athlete doesn't have to think too much: he or she knows exactly what to do. I like to treat injury on a case by case basis, but I believe this is a good start if I am not on deck. 

If you feel an injury coming on during a workout or are dealing with an injury, follow this protocol:

1) Be realistic- Is this soreness from yesterday's hard workout or is this an injury waiting to happen?
2) Be conservative- Stop the workout if there is even a slight chance that you may develop an injury or that an existing injury may get worse. No one workout is more important than your long term health and development.
3) Be confident- Don't second guess the decision to stop a workout due to an injury or possible injury. It's ok to say enough is enough for today. As your coach, I trust you are making the right call.
4) Communicate- Let me know so I can modify your schedule and help you through this. This is something to text me about.
5) Ice it, rest it, take some Advil, don't test the spot that hurts
6) Call the doctor if needed
7) Make a recovery plan
8) Trust in your recovery plan and your team (coach, doctors, and yourself)
9) Don't divert from your recovery plan...it's best to stick to one plan and see it through instead of jumping from plan to plan to plan, looking for that silver bullet 
10) Modify your environment to the best of your ability- Try to prevent situations where your body could get re-injured

Looking for at triathlon coach? Give coach Jon a call at 717-368-7198 or e-mail him at jafecik@gmail.com.