We have all been injured to some extent before. It can happen while exercising, and some sports like American Football, injuries just come with the territory.
This post isn’t going to be about why injuries happen or on how to prevent injury, but on what YOU can do when it happens.
Depending on the severity of injury, your return to exercise or sport can take a couple of days, to a few months, or more.
Exactly what happened will also determine who is going to get involved with your care from orthopedic doctors to physical therapists to fitness trainers.
At Wah Lum, we recently had a member hurt his ankle and after a trip to the ER, he was placed in a boot and given two months as the general time frame to return to exercise.
A mistake often made here is limiting yourself completely during this two month period.
Another mistake is not going to a qualified health care professional, but more on this in my next post.
In the book High Performance for Sports, the author David Joyce (from Western Force Rugby) asks that we not use the term rehab for the injured athlete but think of it as retraining.
Don’t look at the injury as hand brakes or a limit.
Ask yourself, “What CAN I do?” Be more creative.
Being injured can help you work on other aspects of your athleticism. If you just had ankle reconstruction, then you can work on upper body pulling strength.
If one limb is injured, train the other limb to get a positive cross over effect. If your entire body is limited in movement then you can visualize your exercise.
High level martial artists require split second decision making when fighting or performing.
An injury may be the time to focus on training the mental aspect of your game.
Another option is focusing and improving the quality of breathing. This can be a small adjustment made in life that yields large results someplace else.
Don’t take it for granted.
Comments are closed.