At the end of July, top athletes from around the world will be gathering in Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games. It will be a great celebration of sport and human achievement, but just to qualify to be there, each of the athletes will have put in years of hard work, dedication, and sacrifice; training to be the best. As the saying that Jane Fonda popularised in the 1980s goes, ‘No gain without pain!’ In other words, if you want to achieve professional excellence you need to endure stress and pain to train to that level. However, these days doctors and sports professionals caution against that maxim.