INJURY: ROTATOR CUFF
Muscles: Supraspinatous, Subscapularis, Infraspinatous, Teres Minor
Incident: After consistent running and weight training, Paul started to notice a pain in his right shoulder. It came and gone from time to time. Sometimes when he warms up a lot, he felt better. Other times, he felt pain after mile 7 while jogging. After identifying the problem whether if it was muslces, ligaments, or nerve, he started to workout the rotator cuff muscle group. After a few weeks of training, he notice the pain went away.
Common Causes: Any sudden rotational movement that rotates beyond your ROM (Range of motion) or greater resistance than your muscle allows could cause a strain or pull. Baseball pitchers, giving someone a high five, sleeping on your arm drooling, etc.
Rx: There are many different types of exercises to strengthen your rotator cuff muscles. They are smaller than you deltoid muscle group so you want to manage them correctly. Please see you trainer for further details!

INJURY: Achilles
Tendon: Achilles tendon
Incident: Paul use to run a good 2-3 miles before joining Sunnyvale Fitness. After participating in a few group runs, he extended his running distance to well over 10 miles comfortably. After couple months, he noticed a pain in his achilles. He doesn't recall any sudden blow or twist. After taking some time off (about a week), he started strength training both calf muscles (gastrocnemius and soleus). Now it's been over 4 months and he's running like Forest Gump with no further pain.
Common Causes: There are many different problems with achilles but the more common ones are achilles tendonitis which is a chronic injury caused by overusage especially for endurace athletes. Another common injury in achilles rupture. This happens when the tendon is stretched beyond its ROM. Achilles is the largest tendon in the body and is not very flexible. People who attempt a quick burst of movement which they are not use to could cause it. Improper warm ups for sprinters. And most common are hill runners. Don't let this discourage you!! You just have to train right and it can be very avoidable.
Rx: Preventing the injury is always the best medicine. But once you're injured, go through the basic R.I.C.E. After the achilles feel better, start resistance and stablility training on the muslces around your ankles. If you're not up and running better in 2 weeks or you feel you have torn it, go see a doctor.

INJURY: IT Band
Muscle/band: Iliotibial Band
Incident: Dan (not Paul) started feeling some pain this past summer on the outside of his right knee. The pain progressed as his running distance or the number of times he ran increased. It became so bad that he eventually went through Physical Therapy.
Common Causes: Usually friction from the band causes the pain. This could be from overuse, imbalance or tight mucles.
Rx: Corrective resistance training and stretching usually helps prevent further pain. There's a knee strap that helps the friction but it's only recommended if you absolutely have to continue the sports immediately. You do not want your body getting use to the strap. Please see your trainer for details!!

INJURY: Ankle Sprain
Ligament: Talofibular Ligament
Incident: Tai (not Paul) went Wake boarding early in the summer and on one of his jumps he landed awkwardly causing his left ankle to invert and compress. After resting it a couple of weeks, he starting running and kept feeling the same pain. This process repeated over and over for the next new months.
Common Causes: This doesn't usually happen wakeboarding. More common ways are from playing basketball, football, soccer, etc. When your foot is inverted (rolled inwards) your outer ligament is overly stretched. This happens from running or jumping on uneven surface. It usually takes couple of weeks to recover. If it's stretched too much it could partially completely tear off. Then you're out for months!! Be careful!
Rx: Unless it's torn off and you get surgery, there's really not much you can do except to stay off of it as much as possible and apply R.I.C.E. You can take ibuprofen to reduce the inflamation or pain, but most people don't really like taking pills.