{"id":1173,"date":"2018-01-31T20:30:31","date_gmt":"2018-01-31T20:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aerialdancing.com\/blog\/?p=1173"},"modified":"2018-01-31T20:41:47","modified_gmt":"2018-01-31T20:41:47","slug":"everything-hurts-and-im-dying-how-much-soreness-is-too-much","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.aerialdancing.com\/blog\/everything-hurts-and-im-dying-how-much-soreness-is-too-much\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything Hurts and I’m Dying: How Much Soreness is Too Much?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Authored by Dr. Jennifer Crane, PT, DPT, OCS, ATC of\u00a0Cirque Physio.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

What does current performing arts culture tell us about muscle soreness? Aches and pains? Bruises, burns, and rope rash?<\/p>\n

\u201cCIRCUS HURTS.\u201d
\n\u201cTrain through it.\u201d
\n\u201cTears are for home, not circus\u201d
\n\u201cHere, have some circus candy (advil\/ibuprofen).\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

These are all common \u201ccircus-isms\u201d that I\u2019ve heard, and I want to talk a bit about soreness- is it productive? How much is too much? How do you train optimally while simultaneously avoiding OVERtraining and subsequent injury?<\/p>\n

This is a HUUUGEE topic, and I\u2019m only going to address a small component of it in this post.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u200bI was recently reading an article on implementing pitch counts in little league players (woah, #notcircus?! I know\u2026what was I thinking\u2026) and it REALLY got my gears turning. Not because I love baseball (\u2026I don\u2019t), but because one of the criteria they used for progressing pitch intensity and frequency was something I felt could also be applied to circus artists who are returning to training after a long hiatus, or even to those who are wanting to progress skill and strength levels in an efficient amount of time, without getting injured.<\/div>\n

THE SORENESS RULE<\/h2>\n
\u200bThis criteria for training progression is referred to as the \u201cSoreness rule.\u201d It was initially created for pitchers, but has since been adapted and modified to fit other sports as well (running, weight lifting, etc). These rules give athletes the ability to modify their progression of skill\/strength according to the soreness they experience. If the athlete feels sore, tender, or stiff, then they can use the soreness rules to guide their training for the rest of that week.<\/div>\n
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BUT FIRST\u2026<\/h2>\n
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\u200bHere are the\u00a0ground rules\u00a0<\/strong>before I dive into WHAT the actual soreness rules are:<\/p>\n

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  1. THESE DON\u2019T APPLY IF YOU\u2019RE INJURED. \u00a0If you have pain that is NOT from working out a muscle, GET IT CHECKED OUT by someone who\u2019s qualified to do so.<\/li>\n
  2. These rules are based on stepwise progression of overall training volume, strength or skill acquisition. This means that before you get started, you need to create multiple steps\/phases of training- whether its breaking a trick down into 5 phases, or just generally increasing the number of hours you train per week. For example: if you\u2019re an aerialist that is coming back from having a baby (and have been cleared to return to aerial by all involved healthcare providers), you should first sit down and create a multi-phase return-to-full-time-aerial plan. This must be well defined, so work with a qualified coach to do so, if you get stuck!<\/li>\n
  3. Ok, sit down for this one\u2026I\u2019m serious, you\u2019re not going to like it. EACH TRAINING DAY SHOULD HAVE ONE DAY OF REST BETWEEN to ensure proper recovery and adaptation to the stimulus and load!!<\/strong>\n
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    1. Yeah, I said it. The \u201cR\u201d word. In this context, it doesn\u2019t mean complete Netflix and chill bedrest status for 24 hours, it just means that if you\u2019re working on an upper body skill, to give your upper body a break the next day. Yes, handstands count. Yes, contortion counts. Yes, vinyasa yoga counts. Yes, one day = 24 hours.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
    2. Each step\/phase in your progression should last for at least\u00a0one week<\/strong>. This means that you should be working on whatever conditioning\/training drills comprise ONE step for SEVEN DAYS- without soreness. You must be able to do step one, completely free of any muscle soreness, for 7 days before progressing to step 2. If you have soreness during step one, you stay on step 1 (with 24 hour break between each training session) until you\u2019re doing it WITHOUT soreness. For 7 days.\n
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      1. \u00a0I do realize I just said the exact same thing three times. I\u2019ve had the rest day conversation with enough circus artists to know that repetition is key, and over-defining each term is required. It is also often required for me to define how many hours are in a day, and how many days are in a week.\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n

        CLIFF NOTES VERSION<\/h2>\n
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        \u00a0\u200bOverwhelmed? Here\u2019s the cliff notes version: Pick a skill to work on, or an overall training goal. Break the goal down into at least 5 steps. Assign drills and conditioning for each step. Start with step 1, and don\u2019t move on to step 2 until you\u2019ve been doing it every other day for one week, without any muscle soreness.<\/p>\n

        Oh yeah\u2026one more thing. WORK WITH A QUALIFIED COACH.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

        \u200bPRESENTING: THE SORENESS RULE<\/h2>\n
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        YOU\u2019VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME.<\/h2>\n
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        Alright, there we have it. The rules. You guys, I KNOW. Your heart rate and blood pressure just spiked, and you\u2019re getting anxious just THINKING about all those rest days, and how slowly you think you\u2019ll progress. I\u2019m aware that in the circus world, these rules seem SUPER conservative.<\/p>\n

        \u200bHowever\u2026as a circus PT,\u00a0at least 80% of the injuries I treat are from overuse<\/strong>\u2026too much training, and too little rest. These injuries tend to last upwards of 3 months (because again, no rest\u2026) and can significantly impact performing artists career length and career quality. The kicker is, these injuries are caused predominantly by modifiable risk factors\u2026aka, proper dosage of training and adequate rest. So yes\u2026I understand that you\u2019re panicking thinking about this. And yes, I understand that implementing any big change in training program is something that does NOT happen overnight, but I think these rules have a potentially huge positive impact on the overall rate of overuse injuries in circus artists, and I think there\u2019s value to planting this seed in your minds\u2026even if you don\u2019t actually DO anything about it for a while!<\/p>\n

        As I said, the topic of adequate rest, proper training load and volume, as well as overall periodization of training in circus arts is a MASSIVE subject. I\u2019ll likely have a few more posts on this topic, so if you have any specific requests, leave them in the comment section!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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        If you\u2019re interested in reading more articles on the soreness rule, you can find them here:<\/strong>
        \nDevelopment of a distance\u2010based interval throwing program for Little League\u2010aged athletes<\/a>\u00a0(This is the original \u201csoreness rule\u201d article)
        \n        Return to hitting: an interval hitting progression and overview of hitting mechanics following injury.<\/a>
        \n        \u200bUpper extremity weight-training modifications for the injured athlete. A clinical perspective.\u00a0<\/a>
        \n        Track return to running program: UDel<\/a><\/em><\/div>\n
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        DR. JENNIFER CRANE, PT, DPT, OCS, ATC<\/h3>\n

        Dr. Jennifer Crane is a physical therapist, athletic trainer, board certified orthopedic specialist, and published author. She has been a sports medicine professional for eight years, and has worked with a wide variety of athletes and performing artists throughout that time. Most recently, she worked as a physiotherapist living in China with the Chinese Olympic Teams in preparation for the Rio 2016 Olympics. While in China, she worked with multiple sports teams: diving, weight-lifting, fencing, gymnastics, synchronized swimming, and track and field. Of the athletes she worked with, 18 of them went on to get an Olympic gold medal in Rio.<\/p>\n

        Now happily back in San Francisco, Jen\u2019s practice is based at Circus Center, where she specializes in injury prevention and treatment of athletes and performing artists. When she\u2019s not working with circus artists, she can usually be found standing on her hands, swinging on flying trapeze, or spinning on a single point trapeze.<\/p>\n

        Click here to visit Cirque Physio. <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Authored by Dr. Jennifer Crane, PT, DPT, OCS, ATC of\u00a0Cirque Physio. What does current performing arts culture tell us about muscle soreness? Aches and pains? Bruises, burns, and rope rash? \u201cCIRCUS HURTS.\u201d \u201cTrain through it.\u201d \u201cTears are for home, not circus\u201d \u201cHere, have some circus candy (advil\/ibuprofen).\u201d\u00a0 These are all common \u201ccircus-isms\u201d that I\u2019ve heard, … Continue reading “Everything Hurts and I’m Dying: How Much Soreness is Too Much?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anatomy","category-guest-articles","category-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aerialdancing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aerialdancing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aerialdancing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aerialdancing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aerialdancing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1173"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.aerialdancing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1182,"href":"http:\/\/www.aerialdancing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173\/revisions\/1182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aerialdancing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aerialdancing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aerialdancing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}