The Universal Root of All Physical Injuries Explained
It's that familiar January scenario: New Year's resolution in full swing, running shoes laced up, endorphins beginning to flow, when suddenly - a sharp pain erupts somewhere in your body. This moment of physical setback represents a major barrier that prevents many people from maintaining exercise routines or even starting them in the first place. According to movement specialist Ash Grossmann, founder of The Training Stimulus, there exists a single common denominator behind every injury people experience, along with a practical solution to prevent it.
The Fundamental Principle: Tissue Tolerance
"All injuries arise from the same thing," Grossmann states emphatically. "That fundamental cause is exceeding tissue tolerance. If you've damaged any part of your body, then on some level, a tissue has been exposed to more stress or load than it could manage." This principle applies universally, whether discussing acute injuries from sudden impacts like car accidents or chronic conditions resulting from repetitive strain, such as those developed from excessive computer mouse use.
Grossmann elaborates further: "Tissue tolerance represents the specific amount of stress, force, or load that a particular tissue or body part can handle. When that threshold is exceeded, injury inevitably occurs. If those same tissues possessed greater robustness, the injury simply wouldn't have materialised." This concept explains why individuals with extensive strength training backgrounds might emerge from falls unscathed, while sedentary individuals of similar age could sustain serious injuries from identical incidents.
The Prevention Strategy: Building Robustness
The solution, according to Grossmann, lies in a straightforward principle: "We want our tissue tolerance to exceed the demands we place on our body." While unpredictable accidents certainly occur, many activities in both sports and daily life follow predictable patterns that allow for preparation. This explains why boxers engage in extensive neck training - unless exceptionally gifted, they will inevitably receive punches to the head during their careers.
This sport-specific approach translates effectively to everyday activities. By identifying likely stresses - whether walking, climbing stairs, or lifting objects from the ground - individuals can expose themselves to controlled, small doses of these stresses to strengthen relevant tissues, typically through some form of strength training. Over time, progressively overloading these stresses at a rate the body can adapt to builds substantial resilience.
A practical example involves stair climbing, which causes hundreds of thousands of hospitalisations annually across the United Kingdom. This activity demands strength in tissues surrounding knees, hips, and ankles. Building resilience might begin with simple sit-to-stand exercises, progressing to low step-ups, and eventually weighted step-ups to higher surfaces. Someone capable of performing weighted step-ups with relative ease will likely find ordinary stair climbing poses minimal problems.
The Three-Dimensional Movement Approach
Beyond strengthening specific tissues, Grossmann advocates regularly exposing the body to varied movements across all three planes of motion: the sagittal plane (up, down, forward, backward movements), frontal plane (side-to-side movements), and transverse plane (rotational movements). "When we move in three-dimensional, full-body movements, we learn to operate our body more effectively as one integrated system," he explains. "The carryover benefits into both sports and daily life prove profound."
This comprehensive approach provides essential insurance when predictable movements deviate from plan. "Many injuries related to deadlifts or picking objects off the floor occur when people find themselves slightly out of position," Grossmann observes. "They might experience back spasms precisely because they've never lifted from 'bad' positions before." Deliberate, controlled exposure to these suboptimal positions increases tissue tolerance and prepares the body for real-world scenarios where perfect lifting positions rarely occur.
Practical Application for Runners
For those embracing running as their primary exercise, Grossmann recommends specific exercises to build legs capable of accumulating miles without developing pain or niggles:
- Ankle Reach: Focuses on ankle stability. Perform 2 sets of 3 reaches in each direction on each leg.
- Stimulus Six Lunges: Develops hip mobility and coordination. Complete 2 sets of 3-5 repetitions per leg in each direction.
- Walking Lunge: Builds leg strength, stability, and coordination. Execute 2 sets of 10-20 repetitions each side.
- 3D Step Ups: Enhances leg strength, stability, and coordination. Perform 2 sets of 5-10 repetitions of each variation on each leg.
The fundamental approach remains consistent across all applications: begin with manageable intensity using only body weight, then gradually add resistance and increase range of motion as tissues strengthen. When progressed at an appropriate rate that allows positive adaptation, this systematic approach builds remarkable bodily robustness that prevents injuries before they can occur.
