The Price of Pushing Through
by Aaron Weidman, MS, ATC, CEAS
You did it. The race you trained for is next week. You’ve bought your shoes, paid for your entry fee, and you’re winding down your training, but your back has started to tighten up again. So what do you do? Run the race anyway? Eat the cost and preparation time but prioritize your health? We’ve all had this predicament in our heads and with a healthcare provider. And, it’s not only common circumstance in athletic endeavors such as marathons, it’s also common for industrial athletes. So why is it difficult to step away when our body is asking us to slow down?
Too Much to Lose
Your back is tight now, but you’ve got this. You’ve finished races before with similar ailments. You’ve made it through production pushes before during your career. Just like a race you’ve signed up for, your work can lead you to this crossroads. You’ve been doing this for long enough and you’ve always recovered before.
This is where the ‘sunk cost fallacy’ starts to creep in. The sunk cost fallacy is the tendency to continue investing in something because of what we’re already put into it, even when stepping away may be the smarter decision.
For a race, the investment is obvious: entry fees, travel, shoes, training time, and that new gear you purchased to stand out in the crowd. On the industrial side, the cost feels different. It might be missing overtime, losing hours for a doctor appointment, or feeling like you’re letting your team down by stepping away to recover. There’s also a serious case of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). Everyone else is still moving, still working, still competing, and we don’t want to miss out.
So what do we do? We rationalize it. We tell ourselves we’ve pushed through worse before. We can’t stop now. Too much invested, too much to lose. FULL SEND!!!!!
The Check Comes Due
Race over. End of quarter push completed. And we. Are. Hurting!!
This isn’t how it was last time. This is worse. This is the part where we have to cash the check we wrote leading up to the event. The risk of constantly pushing through nagging injuries is the cumulative effect of all the times this has flared up before. What started as a tight back, sore shoulder, or cranky knee that used to recover in a day or two now hangs around longer and comes back faster.
That’s the dangerous cycle with nagging injuries. Not only can they become more severe each time, but they often begin showing up earlier than before.
Listen!
What we’re wired to do is chase the payoff and avoid missing out on the reward at the end. But when nagging injuries start giving us those early warning signs, that’s the critical time to listen instead of pushing through. The problem with re-injury is that it’s rarely the same injury at the exact same level. Usually it’s worse, takes less strain to get there, and pushes the breaking point that much closer.
The good news? Taking time to recover after a warning sign pales in comparison to the time to recover after an injury. So make sure you listen to those early warning signs and give your body grace to recover. That way, you’ll be ready to go the next time that end-of-quarter race shows up.
Aaron Weidman, MS, ATC, CEAS || Aaron is a Certified Athletic Trainer in the Normal, IL area. Aaron has spent his career helping athletes, patients, and team members prevent and recover from injuries and is passionate about prevention. When Aaron isn’t at work he enjoys traveling with his wife, touring with Justin Timberlake, or at home spoiling their Scottish Terrier, Rizzy.
Be sure to check out our other blogs for further injury prevention education and tips for the industrial athlete from Work Right!