CrossFit: The new craze and the bane of MSK Physiotherapists!

For those of you who don't truly understand CrossFit, let me try to explain. CrossFit is a varied program, varied in the fact that no two days should be the same. CrossFit involves the lifting of extremely heavy weights in a quick and sometimes, uncontrolled time and manner.

These typically involve squatting, jumping and throwing for example. Sounds good right? So why are we as physiotherapists metaphorically holding our heads in our hands and seeing an increased number of people referring to physiotherapists do to an injury that they can attribute to CrossFit?

The principles of exercise are quite simple. Any exercise is suitable if it performed safely and correctly. We have been working on the same scientifically proven principles for many years:

Low weight / High repetitions for tone and endurance

High weight / Low repetitions for strength and power Yet CrossFit seems to disregard the exercise physiology principles and believe that high weight and high repetitions is the key to power. But this only leads to a multiple of injury risks. Whenever you try to lift heavy weights, numerous times and quickly, the first thing that suffers is your technique. You are concentrating too much on trying to keep up with someone, that we are not paying attention to how we are performing the exercise. To be fair, the same can be said for most people who go to the gym and start lifting heavy weights. I have blogged before about quality not quantity, you can read more here:

People who are exercising don't do it intentionally but as humans, we are like water: We take the path of least resistance!

You are shown an exercise, you do it, it hurts and it is hard. You continue to perform that exercise and then you forget the precise way we showed you how to do it, so you inadvertently find an easier way to do the exercise and this becomes your norm!

Any exercise class or self-directed exercise program has this potential risk; step classes, pilates classes, aerobic classes, circuit training classes. Only if the participant doesn't perform the exercise correctly and the instructor doesn't correct their technique.

However, we as physiotherapists are seeing more and more injuries due to CrossFit. This is because their squatting or jumping technique has suffered so much that their gluteals are not being utilised. Utimately, they are suffering gluteal tendinopathy, which is extremely painful and slow to rehabilitate.

In short, technique is key. From our experience CrossFit doesn't seem to adhere to this principle. If you are performing an exercise wrong, you will get injured.

We as physiotherapists would always suggest, if you want to get an exercise program that is right for you, seek appropriate advice from a qualified professional who can direct you accordingly.