Elastic/Plastic Deformation Curve

Preventing Pain is Easier than Treating Pain

This graph can be applied to all the tissues in your body. Let’s use muscles for example as they are likely to extend through the graph at some point. Baseline is when the muscles are completely healthy. Failure point is when the muscle completely rips. When muscles are used normally, they stay within the elastic region and always come back down to base line quickly. The more you strain the muscle the closer it gets to the plastic region. When tissues reach the plastic region the return to health takes much more time and may never fully return to baseline.

The CrossFit community or triathlon communities are known for frequent injuries because athletes stress the same tissues over and over without letting their muscles return to healthy before the nest workout. During the next workout they push those same tissues a little bit further, and a little further until the tissues eventually fail. Theory is Simple: Outcomes will be higher and quicker if the problem is caught during the elastic stage. For optimal results exercise and move but always allow your body to heal. After years and years of abuse it may take longer than expected to get those tissues back down to a pain free condition.