The importance of managing your body.

So here am I, shored up with a small bicep tear brought on totally by my own fault.

Firstly, I have to thank all of the ruckingball management for their concern, especially Martin Corry, who exclaimed “Call that a torn bicep? Why, when I did mine it was 100 times worse…it was yellow, red, purple and blue…size of a golf ball …etc…….etc…”

I can only surmise that if I had a black cat, Cozza would have one that was blacker!

Secondly, I wanted to use this as a salutary lesson to myself and all on here to manage your body properly. I played in 2 games in 4 days, then went into a 3rd and, in honesty, I did not warm up properly nor, after the first two games did I warm down properly.

One of the things I have noticed is that as I have gotten older, I need to manage my body. Anyone that’s played sort at a decent level will understand that certain major injuries never go away, they just need management and care. In my case I have a shoulder dislocation on the same arm that I tore the bicep on and I should have realised it needs stretching and warming up. I also suffer from Achilles issues and a couple of other niggles. I know that to play I need to work hard on keeping those niggles at bay!

So my message is this; warming up and warming down are key, as is injury management. Always take those parts of your game as seriously as ball skills and the like and don’t underestimate the management of old injuries. Swimming, stretching and ice are the keys in my case, and I’m sure Lisa and Matt would agree that they’re key parts of any recovery regime.

We all want to play sport for as long as we can, but we need to let our bodies recover.

Don’t do what I did and have to have a month off (and, worst of all, listen to the likes of Corry and Byrne rolling in mirth at my latest mishap!)

Cheers
James.