Time to celebrate! You finally figured it out. You are consistently exercising…. doing what you should have been doing years ago, but that’s ok because you are dong it now.
Until….. an injury happens and now everything’s messed up.
I’m sure you’ve been here before. I know I have. I even have several clients who are here right now.
It’s so frustrating to go through this. When it first happens, you take a few days off, then you start feeling lousy, so you decide that you will just push through. But you can’t because of the injury. So what do you do? Do you give up and throw in the towel because you feel like you won’t ever heal? You could, but I don’t think that is something that you really want to do. Here are 3 simple steps that you can take when an injury upsets your regular routine:
1. Rest. Pretty simple. You’re body needs time to heal. Every body and every injury is different therefore there is no general rule of thumb as to how long this rest period needs to be. If you continue pushing through the pain because you believe that you should, you could be not only delaying healing, but you could also be causing more injury
2. Seek professional advice. If your injury is still limiting your activity after a week, it is definitely time to seek the advice of a professional. Depending on the injury, it may mean going to a physical therapist, a chiropractor, an orthopedist, or even a message therapist. These professionals are here to help you recover and heal. They will have recommendations for you and if you follow them, the healing process will be faster. Which should you call first? It depends. The good ones will always refer you to someone else if they aren’t the best choice for you.
3. Work around the injury. This is the most important piece. It is very rare that an injury causes you to be on complete bedrest. This means that you do not need to just sit on the couch and “wait” for the healing to occur before you jump back in. Often times there are other activities that you can still be doing- even if it is simply walking. I recently injured my shoulder- a muscle/are that is used for many different exercises including planks and back work. But, I didn’t let it stop my workout. Instead, I focused on leg work, plyometrics and HIIT training until my shoulder was better.
When you have recovered from your injury and you are ready to get back into your fitness routine, please proceed cautiously. You will most likely not be able to simply pick up where you left off. Be patient and ease back into your routine.
I have a client that I was working with who had a pretty severe case of low back pain due to an ongoing issue. We stopped training for about a week, he went to the physical therapist who gave him the green light to continue working out and I created a workout program of other exercises that he could do during this healing time. The intensity of the workouts were significantly less, but we worked within his limitations. He could still do a lot of upper body strength training while sitting, but all cardio and balance movements were eliminated. It’s been a few months since we’ve backed off from the intense training, but he is now healed and now progressing his performance.
So don’t let an injury keep you from engaging in the active lifestyle that you’ve now embraced. If you follow these 3 simple suggestions, you should be on the road to recovery in no time.