Episode 233: Breaking the Injury Cycle (Part 2) - The Role of Nutrition

In part two of our three-part series on injury prevention and management, Matt Welcomes to the podcast leading performance nutritionist Scott Tindal of FuelIn for a discussion on the role of nutrition in injury prevention, mitigation, and recovery.

Together Matt and Scott frame the topic of injury through the lens of under-fueling or improper fueling and its impact on soft tissue and bone health.

The conversation covers:

Low Energy Availability (LEA), Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDS), Over Training Syndrome.
Chronic vs. Acute LEA

(7:06) "What I think tends to happen is athletes see the results of...taking in limited amounts of fuel. They see the body composition improve, they see the weight drop, they see maybe some improvement in these performance parameters, maybe because of reduced weight, and then they get oh, maybe if I lose more, maybe if I go further. Maybe if I drop more fat, maybe if I don't eat as much here, I can continue to improve, and then you start to see those changes, you know. Not just from a physical standpoint, but also a mental standpoint as well. And that's when I think if we're talking about soft tissue injuries and bone injuries, that's when it starts to occur."

Caloric intake and the balanced consumption of carbs, protein, and fat
Proper hydration
Navigating dietary restrictions

(30:24) "I fully respect the decision to go vegan or vegetarian. And I think you just need to be aware of the implications of those diet types, especially when trying to perform high volume, high intensity, you know, lots of load training, I think it just needs to be -- you need to be aware of protein intake, carbohydrate intake, fat intake, and total caloric intake when doing that, along with all the micronutrient potential deficiencies that could exist with a poorly designed the, you know, vegetarian diet."

Matt and Scott also discuss the most common nutritional mistakes athletes make that promote injury and the practices that lead to bone resorption - the shrinkage or loss of bone.

Scott Tindal also explains what it means to “feed the injury” as well as the habits athletes should avoid during injury recovery.

(40:59) "When injury occurs, I think the most common mistake is that athletes will drop caloric intake. So they all say, sh**, I'm getting fat, because I can't move. But if we look at acute muscle damage...induced through exercise, we see an increase in resting metabolic rate. And that will occur for at least up to 72 hours. So if you get an injury, certainly don't restrict caloric intake for at least the first 72 hours. That would be something that we would absolutely stress that actually, if anything, increase your energy intake during those first three days post-injury, to allow the body to recover."

The purpose of this episode is to provide an understanding of the negative physiological challenges that occur due to improper nutrition and how to leverage nutrition in a well-balanced and well-rounded approach to injury prevention, care, and rehabilitation.

Episode Timestamps

0:00 - 02:39 Welcome and Episode Introduction

2:47 - The Meat and Potatoes - Episode 233: Breaking the Injury Cycle (Part 2) - The Role of Nutrition

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