If you’re injured and you’re a physical person, the drama can be maddening. Or so I’d been told. Growing up my dad would constantly be lain up with personal injuries from his hamstrings to his knees and he was a tennis guy. So that was it for him. He’d keep his stinky feet elevated and on ice all the time. I thought I would never come to that. Then I got lain up in high school. It was a pretty serious injury with pretty serious potential complications. In the immediate aftermath, I thought my life was over. I had lost a lot of weight; I’d lost a lot of muscle, and had to gingerly attempt physical therapy (while wearing an eye-patch!) in the hopes of returning to normal. Hindsight and age have shown me that there is no such thing as ‘normal;’ still, in the immediate aftermath of my near-death experience, I strived for normal. So I got on a physical fitness regimen. Here were six tips to help keep you on the path towards physical excellence; even when you’re not 100%. Of course all this should be run by your doctor depending on your own individual situation.
Working Out While Injured: Mind Over Matter: That may seem facile but it’s true; the more you wallow in your injury, the more your injury controls you. Of course if you’ve got a broken arm you shouldn’t go out and do QB training but if your legs are okay, you can go walking! Getting over that hump of ‘oh me, I’m injured’ is the first obstacle in getting up and active while injured.
Working Out While Inured: Play to Your Strengths: Going right along with that last example, you can’t stress your injured area too much just because you want to do something. If you have intensive ligament damage you’re probably not running any marathons. However if you’re able, doing the weights and other arm strengthening machines can help you build your upper body while your legs heal.
Working Out While Injured: Overall Tone: While being Mr. Universe may be your ultimate goal, when you’re injured it’s probably not a good idea to do anything too strenuous. Just getting out and getting your blood circulating and your heart rate up should be the goal when you’re coming back from injury.
Working Out While Injured: What Injury: Don’t be stupid. If you have doctor’s orders to only do “X” and you want to do “A, B, C, D, & E” – don’t! Only do “X” until your doctor checks you out and says doing otherwise is okay. Okay?
Working Out While Injured: Body, Mind, & Spirit: Yoga and Pilates are some of the best types of workouts out there; especially if you’re coming off a big injury. Even if you don’t have any of these programs, just going through some basic stretches and really extending your body can really help heal the body as well as the mind and spirit as you claw your way back from being hurt.
Working Out While Injured: Diet for the Healthy: It’s also a really good idea while you’re lain up from injury to take a look at your diet and find out what can stay and what can go. If you have been wolfing down fast food every day and you’re not able to get out and work out then those pounds are going to add up fast. Study your diet, study your habits, and study your nutrition to achieve overall better health when you’re lain out from injury.
Working Out While Injured: Summary: Getting injured may have been the best thing that ever could have happened to you. Maybe you were exerting yourself too much or maybe your diet was out of whack or maybe you just needed to tend to other personal stuff. Either way, constant analysis and reevaluation is the best way to maintain your optimal health and keep yourself from getting knocked back down when you only want to be up.
