Some time ago, while walking my daughter to the bus-stop, she and I were startled by a car that veered past us, hit the curb, and carried on driving as if nothing had happened. The driver was not only oblivious to the fact that he had almost lost control of the steering wheel, but also to the fact that he had lost the hubcap off his rear passenger tire; the hubcap came to a rolling stop right beside my daughter and I.

It amazed me to see the driver continue on down the road, without stopping to consider what damage might have been done. As athletes, we are sometimes guilty of doing the same thing. We can become so engrossed in our sport that when our bodies send out faint warning signs that indicate the beginning of an injury, we choose to ignore it and carry on doing what we were doing. 

Like the driver who was still able to drive without a hubcap on his tire, we are still able to train and compete with minor injuries. But continuous neglect eventually leads to more permanent damage, and more than likely a longer than desirable amount of time “off the road.”

The moral of the story: don’t leave those niggling injuries unattended……..