Why We Get Injured in the Spring (And How to Prevent It)
Every year the same pattern emerges.
The weather warms up, my schedule fills with patients experiencing back pain, shoulder discomfort, knee issues, and other musculoskeletal complaints. These patients often tell me, "I don't understand what happened – I was just doing normal spring activities."
The truth is, these injuries aren't random or mysterious. They're the predictable result of a fundamental mismatch between how our bodies adapt and how we approach seasonal activity changes.
The Winter-Spring Activity Gap
During winter months especially in colder regions, most of us drastically decrease our activity levels – particularly activities involving:
Bending and reaching (gardening, yard work)
Twisting and rotational force production (golf, tennis)
Vertical impact loading (running, hiking steeper terrain)
Overhead movements (cleaning, home maintenance)
This reduction isn't just about overall activity levels. It's about specific movement patterns that simply disappear from our routine for 3-4 months.
In response, our body does exactly what it's designed to do: it adapts. The tissues that aren't being worked – certain muscles, tendons, and ligaments – gradually get weaker and lose their endurance. Our cardiovascular system adjusts to lower demands. Our nervous system becomes less efficient at coordinating complex movements we're not doing regularly.
The Spring Activity Surge
Then spring arrives. Suddenly, we're eager to:
Go from not golfing at all to playing three times a week
Jump from walking 5,000 steps daily to 10,000+ steps
Transition from no gardening to full weekends in the yard
Move from no home projects to ambitious renovation work
For many people, this represents a 200-300% increase in activity volume virtually overnight. We double or triple our activity level in specific movement patterns that we haven’t done in months.
And herein lies the problem. While our enthusiasm for spring activities understandably returns, our body's physical capacity needs time to catch up. This creates a fundamental mismatch between what we want to do and our body’s capacity to do it.
The 10-20% Rule Your Body Can't Ignore
Our tissues need time to strengthen and adapt to these renewed demands and research consistently shows that our bodies can safely adapt to approximately a 10-20% increase in activity volume per week. Beyond this threshold, the risk of injury rises dramatically.
This isn't just a guideline – it's a physiological reality for everyone. Your tissues need time to strengthen in response to increased demands:
Muscles can adapt relatively quickly (days to weeks)
Tendons and ligaments adapt more slowly (weeks to months)
Bone remodeling is even slower (months)
When we suddenly ask these tissues to handle loads they haven't experienced in months, they simply haven't had time to rebuild the necessary capacity.
The Result? Predictable Spring Injuries and Pain
The discomfort and injuries that follow aren't signs that something is fundamentally "wrong" with your body. Your body is actually doing exactly what we would expect – it's telling you that you've exceeded its current capacity to adapt.
This isn't aging or bad luck. It's a normal physiological response that occurs because we are asking our body to do more than it is currently capable of.
A Better Approach: Treat Yourself Like an Athlete
In sports and exercise science we carefully monitor training volume for athletes to prevent exactly these types of overuse injuries. We would never let an athlete who hasn't been running all winter suddenly run five days in one week, or a baseball player who hasn't thrown in months immediately pitch nine innings.
Yet somehow, we ignore these same principles for the general population and are then surprised when we see “old” injuries flare-up in the spring.
Practical Solutions for Spring Activity Progression
Monitoring exact activity volume percentages outside of structured exercise can be challenging. Here are some practical approaches that honor the 10-20% rule:
Start at 50% of what feels "normal" - If a full day of gardening feels reasonable, start with just half a day.
Distribute activity throughout the week - Instead of concentrating all your yard work on the weekend, spread smaller sessions throughout the week.
Plan a 4-week ramp-up - Assume it will take you at least a month to safely return to your full desired activity level.
Prioritize recovery - Allow 48 hours between sessions of the same activity when first returning to it.
Pre-season conditioning - In the weeks before spring activities typically begin, start some basic strength training that mimics the movements you'll soon be doing more intensively.
Listen to Early Warning Signs
Mild muscle soreness that resolves within 24-48 hours is normal when returning to activity. However, pay attention to:
Pain that persists beyond 72 hours
Pain that increases throughout an activity
Pain that worsens from day to day
Pain that wakes you at night
These are signals to temporarily reduce the amount of activity you’re doing which will allow your body more time to adapt.
It's Not About Age, It's About Approach
Many people in their 50s, 60s, and beyond maintain impressive activity levels year-round without spring injuries. Conversely, I see plenty of patients in their 20s and 30s with these same seasonal issues.
The difference isn't age – it's approach.
Your body isn't failing you when pain emerges in spring. It's communicating valuable information about the mismatch between activity demands and current capacity.
By approaching seasonal activity changes with the same respect for progressive loading that we apply in athletic training, you can enjoy all your favorite spring activities while dramatically reducing your risk of pain and injury.
Remember: Your body can do amazing things – it just needs appropriate time to adapt to increasing demands.