Injuries and the road to recovery

Injuries are never welcome. They always come at the wrong time and can be painful to deal with. They are however almost inevitable at some point in our lives, no matter how careful we are. Even the smallest injury can set you back for a short time in your life.

Knowing how to deal with them mentally, I think, is the biggest key to moving forward.

Quite often I see people become detailed in motivation because of the emphasis they put on what they can’t do. And there needs to be some attention because a plan needs to be worked out about which physician to see, what rehab is required and what adjustments need to be made for the day to day living. Sure, that’s important. What’s not important is only focusing on this.

The deep dark hole

I have been there, trust me. It’s hard. It not only hurts physically but if you are 12 weeks into a 16 week running program and do you pull a muscle that means race day is no longer on your calendar, it really sucks. This is when you enter the deep dark hole. It’s good to acknowledge how you feel, just don’t spend too long there. It’s not a safe place 🙂

Look forward

It’s time to change your exercise routine or exercises so you can keep moving and working out. In simple terms, you have injured 1 spot, there are 100s of other working muscles that you can use. For example, when a runner hurts their ankle or knee I get them into a HIIT session that doesn’t aggravate the injury but still gives them that cardio workout they are looking for. Many times if a client has injured an upper body limb, we focus on lower body for the workout and upper body for the rehab. Keep your mind thinking about what you can do will speed your recovery up. How do you do this? Ask your instructor or PT. They have loads of variations for you and we are always more happy to see you doing something than nothing.

 

Chin up and move forward, always

J