By Lance Winslow

Many folks that are hard charging sportsters in their early years wind up with problems later in life, but not all. Those athletes that stretch out, warm up and follow their coaches advice often are not plagued by early injuries that come back to haunt them later in life. Still, an athletic type personality is the type that will always push the limits, that includes getting back on the field before the injuries are healed completely.

What about a young track star in College? Well, regarding running, I once had a stress fracture in my foot and almost a collapsed arch, painful as hell, unbelievable in fact, but while I was racing, I didn’t feel it, but it dropped me when I was training there for a while. I’ve never had any real injuries, I’d always ran so much, I guess the low body fat and strong muscles helped.

The collapsed arch took me out of X-country the beginning of the season my senior year in High school, but I managed to get over it without having to wear orthotics, which is the kiss of death to a competitive athletic runner. You really cannot break into a full sprint and hold it with those in your shoes. Indeed, like most younger athletes I was ultra competitive and probably not as careful as I should have been.

And for the other track star runners out there, yes, I’ve become one with the track before, the friction, the pain, it’s intense, but you know, what the hell, strong survive “no pain, no gain”. Anyway, I guess I am lucky on the joints and knees, I stopped racing competitively in my late 20’s and then only ran for fun. But, hey I’m only 44 so who knows?

Physical Therapy professionals are a must when recovering from an injury and whereas the competitive athletic mindset has a tendency to shy away from their advice, I’d like to recommend that you listen, you’ll be better off in later years and perhaps prevent a knee surgery in your 50s or 60s, those are no fun and when you are older, things just take a lot longer to heal. I hope you are listening and will continue to listen to this advice.

Lance Winslow – Lance Winslow’s Bio. Lance Winslow is also Founder of the Car Wash Guys, a cool little Franchise Company; http://www.carwashguys.com/history/founder.html/.

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May 30, 2009