Overuse

Overuse is a form of Overtraining where an exercise stress builds up damage and there is insufficient recovery time or proactive healing.

• Overuse causes injuries such as tendon damage, stress fractures or muscle damage, but without the generalized fatigue, performance degradation and mood changes associated with Overtraining Syndrome.
• The most common problems I've seen with Overuse are nagging muscle issues, which can then lead to tendon injuries.
• Where most forms of Overtraining are due to the ratio of training stress and life stress to recovery, I believe that Overuse is strongly related to the quality of the recovery. Minor damage to muscles can result in muscle "knots" (Trigger Points). These knots keep part of the muscle in a contracted state, which puts long term stress on other parts of the muscle and the attached tendons. Without active treatment to resolve the problems, such as Massage, the result is all too often a disabling injury. I've rarely seen passive rest resolve these types of injury.
• Overuse is similar to Too Much Too Soon, but whereas Overuse is a long term (chronic) problem, Too Much Too Soon is due to a sudden change in exercise stress.