For the majority of athletes, pain is something we experience at one time or other during our sporting lives. Indeed if we play contact sports, some of us expect… perhaps even relish… a degree of pain.

Then there are the common locker-room expressions, “No pain, no gain” and ”Pain is temporary, winning or forever”, that somehow legitimise such discomfort. The subtext being: if you can’t stand pain you must be a wimp.

But the temporary discomfort of a crunching tackle in rugby football is one thing; the acute pain of a pulled hamstring is quite another – not to mention the chronic, nagging pain of a knee injury that simply won’t go away. An injury that keeps you off the playing fields for weeks at a time – or threatens to end your sporting career forever.

Just ask Tiger Woods…

Pain, whatever its cause, should always be taken seriously. On examination it could turn out to be nothing to worry about. But equally it could be an indicator of something serious… and even, on occasion, life-threatening.

That’s why the next title in our brand new series of ‘mini-reports’ deals with this essential topic.

Click here to purchase your copy of Managing Pain in Sport at a special discount price

But first, let me introduce you to our expert panel of contributors – they’re particularly well-qualified to advise athletes, coaches and care professionals on the most effective ways to deal with pain in sport:

• Louis Gifford is a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy and has been writing and lecturing on pain for over 18 years. As well as working in his own private practice in Cornwall he lectures extensively in the UK, Europe and worldwide and currently edits the Physiotherapy Pain Association’s book series entitled ‘Topical Issues in Pain’.
• Andrew Hamilton BSc, MRSC, trained as a chemist and is consultant to the fitness industry and an experienced science writer. He’s now editor of our Peak Performance subscription newsletter.
• Australian-born Matt Lancaster relocated to the United Kingdom in 2000 and is currently employed by the English Institute of Sport as lead physiotherapist for the London region.
• Stephen Robson has run his own private practice and sports injury clinic in Northumberland for ten years. He writes and lectures on pain and has been a physiotherapist to the British Olympic squad and Royal Yachting Association for seven years.

All four individuals are highly experienced, sports conditioning professionals working with elite athletes across a range of different sports. So you can be sure their advice is informed, up-to-date – and highly pertinent to all athletes, no matter which sport they may play, as well their coaches and care professionals.

When I commissioned Andy, Louis, Matt and Stephen to write this special report, I asked them to do two things for me:

• scrutinise all the very latest sports scientific research into the treatment of pain in athletes – not just the academic journals that we regularly review for our Peak Performance and Sports Injury Bulletin specialist newsletters, but all the not-yet-published material as well. Findings that have only recently emerged – and have not yet made it into the specialist media. Secrets of sporting success that might not ever make it into the magazines you find on the high street news-stands. (Because some of this stuff is highly technical, and not easily understood by your average journalist or magazine editor.)

• synthesise their findings into a concise, readable report. No impenetrable scientific jargon – only the facts about what care professionals, athletes and their coaches need to know about the prevention and treatment of pain…. and how they can use this information to their advantage.

Click here to purchase your copy of Managing Pain in Sport at a special discount price

Here are just some of the fascinating facts they uncovered – and which you’ll learn about exclusively in Managing Pain in Sport:

• The techniques athletes should use to distinguish between benign and potentially damaging pain – before having to consult a professional (p. 9)
• How can some athletes manage to shrug off even a painful injury, and continue competing – while others are forced to drop out? (p. 10)
• Why it is someone can continue to feel pain even after the injured tissue has healed – or removed completely by surgery? (p. 22)
• How you can treat pain from almost anywhere in the body – and the implications of this fact for successful patient outcomes (p. 24)
• How to spot the telltale signs of neurologically-produced pain – and how to distinguish it from acute pain associated with actual tissue damage (p. 25)
• Why the clinician’s ‘bedside manner’ has such a huge impact on how well patients copy with pain, and their recovery (pp. 29-30)
• How the ‘biopsychosocial’ approach to treatment differs from the more traditional ‘biomedical’ approach – and why it’s so much more effective in most cases(p. 36)
• How do the various menstrual phases affect athletic performance – and what lessons should be learned by coaches and athletes alike when setting their training and competition goals? (p. 33)
• Why the so-called ‘graded approach’ to rehabilitation can actually speed up recovery from pain and injury (pp. 32-33)
• How and why certain commonly-used pain relief medications can actually retard the recovery process – and cause potentially-serious problems in the longer term (pp. 39-46) The report is well worth reading for this chapter alone.
• How to fight inflammation naturally – including details of a common daily supplement that research shows is at least as effective in reducing pain as ibuprofen! (p. 47)

and much, much more…

Your copy of Managing Pain in Sport comes complete with tables and diagrams, where needed, to supplement the explanatory text. In short, everything you need to put an end to any confusion on the subject.

Sounds too good to be true? Not at all. Read on and you’ll see why.

My Personal Guarantee of Satisfaction

Order your copy of Managing Pain in Sport TODAY at the special price of US $29.99/£15. Postage and package included. (RRP US$49.99/£25.)

You save 40% (US$20/£10)

Read it from cover to cover (it’s a concise 48 pages, so won’t take you long…), then put our expert findings to work for you for a full 30 days. At the end of that time judge for yourself how much better an athlete you are.

If at the end of 30 days you don’t feel you’re fitter and faster, and that your performance has been enhanced as a result, then return the book to me for a full refund.

I’ll return every penny you’ve paid promptly – and without question. It’s the least I can do in return, given you showed such commitment to your sport or your profession.

No thanks, I just want to buy Managing Pain in Sport today