How to Continue Training While Dealing with an Injury
Written by Nick Bechtold, PT, DPT, OCS, CSCS, CF-L1
We all deal with injury at some point in our lives. They aren’t fun and can be extremely frustrating. However, for anyone involved in sport and pushing their physical training to reach new goals, injuries can be part of the game. Beyond the experience of physical pain, injuries also can also take psychological toll by potentially limiting our ability to work or preventing us from being a part of our given exercise community. For these reasons, it’s imperative that we keep individuals active and involved while we work with them. A common question that I’m often asked by clients is, “Well, what things can I still do while we deal with this injury?” Luckily, there are many options to continue training and staying active while working past an injury. In fact, there are very few (if any) times when you should completely avoid exercise while recovering from an injury. However, there are some considerations to keep in mind.
One of the most important aspects of dealing with and moving past an injury is identifying what lead to the injury in the first place. Injuries can be good learning experiences to help prevent them from happening again down the road. Some injuries are straight forward like when you step wrong while hiking and sprain your ankle or attempt to pick up a heavy box while moving and feel a twinge in your low back. However, many injuries are less direct. We often label these as overuse injuries. To put it simply, these are injuries that result from doing too much before the body has had time to adapt to that given stimulus. This concept can apply to any sport or recreational endeavor including weightlifting, mountain biking, running, and hunting. Using the runner as an example, the athlete is often trying to increase mileage, pace, or even elevation gain too rapidly without allowing adequate recovery time to allow the body to adapt and respond to the training load. This also applies to the Crossfit athlete who goes from 3-4 sessions per week to 6-7 sessions per week with a couple of two-a-days thrown in the mix.
Beyond addressing training load, it’s also important to address any imbalances that may have also contributed to the injury. Typically, these imbalances show up as limited joint or soft tissue mobility or decreased strength in a particular muscle group. When a tissue lacks the appropriate flexibility, strength, or endurance or a joint lacks adequate mobility, then excessive strain is often placed on a given structure. Over time, if the imbalance of stress is not addressed, injury can occur. Identifying the imbalances can be a tricky process. We may be a bit biased, but we feel that seeing a physical therapist can be invaluable. Physical therapists are equipped with the tools and training to provide an in-depth musculoskeletal evaluation and functional testing specific to the needs of your given sport or activity. It can be even more beneficial to see a PT that specializes in activities such as running or working with fitness athletes. Through this process we identify areas of weakness and/or limitation and provide a custom treatment approach including education, hands-on techniques to alleviate pain, exercise, guided activity progression, and 1-on-1 coaching. The goal in this process is to allow you to reach a point in which you are pain-free, back to full activity, and possess the knowledge and confidence to manage the issue independently going forward.
While directly treating the injured area, you should still emphasize maintaining or even improving fitness in other regions. If you are dealing with a lower body injury and can’t perform activities like running, biking, or squatting then shift your focus to upper body exercises. Vice versa if dealing with an upper extremity injury. Likewise, if you are unable to lift heavy during this time, maybe it’s a good time to work on building your cardiovascular engine. The goal during this time is to maintain fitness and aid healing to the injured area through improved systemic circulation. Additionally, if dealing with injury in only one limb then you should continue to exercise the opposing or uninjured side. In fact, training the uninvolved side can lead to improved recovery and strength on the injured side through a phenomenon referred to as cross-education.
Injuries are tough. They can also be an opportunity to learn, reflect, and grow as an athlete. By assessing your habits and training plan, you can identify any flaws in your approach and return from injury a stronger, smarter athlete going forward. Fortunately, as previously discussed, there are also many ways to stay active and continue training while you recover. If you are dealing with an injury and not sure where to start, we would love to help! Feel free to reach out with an email, call, or text and let us get you back to 100% and continue crushing your fitness goals.
