If you made a New Year's resolution to get fitter in 2020, there's a fairly good chance that pledge has fallen by the wayside.
And if you've been feeling a bit sore in places that shouldn't be as a result of the short-lived resolution, you're not the only one.
Physiotherapists say they have seen a spike in appointments in January and February due to people going too hard, too fast in their quest to get healthier in the New Year.
Physiotherapist Rob Erickson said a majority of patients he's seen in the early parts of the year were those who were a little too enthusiastic in their fitness boost.
He said appointment numbers went up significantly since the middle of January, and were likely to continue into March.
"Often when people take up running and start going too hard, the injury most commonly manifests around the third or fourth week. It doesn't happen on a first run," Mr Erickson said.
"The body tends to be at risk when we change it in any way."
In his more than 20 years as a physiotherapist, Mr Erickson said the start of the year was always a busy time.
He said there was also a spike in people coming in who were resuming their exercise routine following the Christmas break.
"For many, the last couple of weeks of December and Christmas are usually written off," he said. "When they get back into their routine like running or the gym, suddenly there's a sudden rise in the stress and the load put on tissues and muscles."
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Physiotherapist Kevin Lieberthal said there was a desire among many who wanted to get fitter in the New Year to seek a quick fix.
"You see too often injuries pop up when people are not accustomed to exercise when they start to do something new," Dr Lieberthal said.
"The really important thing for individuals is there needs to be consistent exercise over an extended period of time as opposed to getting fit in a short period and doing vigorous exercise in a short time."
Dr Lieberthal said the start of the year falling in summer holidays also contributed to the spike in cases.
"In the January period, people are working less and they have more time during then to exercise more," he said.
"Then they have time to get fitter over the holidays and they do more exercise than they're accustomed to."
While both physiotherapists advocate for getting fitter and healthier, they said realistic and long-term goal setting was a better approach to avoid the risk of injuries.
Dr Lieberthal said finding a fitness plan that suited and sticking to it was key.
