Dealing with injury

[LivingHull]

I am seeing a physio so undertaking treatment and rehab but the recovery timeframe is a bit open ended (tendinitis) and I am really struggling mentally with my injury. I can’t move freely or do my normal activities like running or cycling nor go on my normal hikes. Walking is limited in general as a form of load management.

how does everyone else deal with injury? I am feeling very low, feel like I’m never going to improve and randomly bursting into tears. Think I might need some tough love, how do I reframe what I’m dealing with?

I up the physio appointments so at least I get a massage and feel I'm doing something. I tend to start again too soon out of frustration so my physio knows me well.

Otherwise, I overcommit at work and take on impossible diy projects. I'm still trying to get out of being the employee rep to the board of directors after the last injury. Maybe I should switch the physio for a shrink :D

I cope Badly but I am following for future hints

Do the physio however tedious and pointless it feels

Maybe have a look for a different physio? Mine is really good at making it fun, explaining exactly why we're doing each exercise and giving me preventative exercises. It's a bit more like going to a seriously overqualified personal trainer

It's the doing the same exercises every few hours for 10 minutes a time that I find boing and I doubt any "fun" would make that commitment and repetition fun!

I do whatever I can get away with doing.

Do the physio. Dull, but it works.

Always feel terrified of making injury worse by doing too much yet feel worse for not doing anything, eg gardening or going for a walk. How do I balance conflicting emotions like this??

thanks for your reply everyone

You really need to listen to your body

At the first sign of trouble stop

Generally things like gardening can be worse because you do lots of different types of movement and sometimes quite powerfully and can easily think alls fine and then do something that isn't

Something simple and repetitive or slow can be easier to work with as you have time to keep listening to your body

If you can only walk 10 mins - do -10 mins one day then 2 sets of 10 mins the next with a big break

Will your physio allow you to / can you swim with your injury?

Usually I can find some exercise that's feasible in spite of the injuries, like I also wonder if swimming is ok.

Which type of tendonitis is it, OP? I haven't had runner's knee, but I've had other things...

@GOODCAT that’s a good question that I didn’t ask. The bike and elliptical niggle my injury so assumed swimming would be a no too. It’s my knee @lljkk so a bit debilitating on the cross training front…

Thanks for your replies x

Can you go a gym and do upper body cardio to get some of those happy exercise endorphins?

The Concept2 ski erg can be upper body only - just don’t bend you knees. It’s very good cardio - just take it easy if you’ve never done it before because it will feel hard!

Its also possible to sit still on a rowing machine and row with arms and back only, not as good cardio as full body row but it’s still doing something that will get your heart rate up. You just put your feet on the ground and sit upright rather than feet in straps.

I’ve had to both of these when had knee and ankle injuries that prevented anything lower body.

Some gyms also have rope climbing type machine that you can either sit or stand at for cardio.

Do you any weight training for upper body? Many exercises will doable without loading your knee

I hate being injured, but it is inevitable if you're pushing yourself. I hope you're doing heel drops if it's tendinitis in the Achilles. They are really effective.

I tore some knee cartilage a year ago while doing very fast running intervals on the treadmill. So at least I was pushing myself! I'm still not running, but I'm going to start back very soon, gently.

I did box jumps (only to an 18" box) for the first time yesterday - almost a year after pinging my knee. And I only started back into heavy barbell back squats last week - and what was really great was that just before I injured my knee, I'd hit a PB of 67.5 kilos, and last week managed several reps at 60 kg without too much difficulty. You really won't lose all your strength & speed.

I did a LOT of careful "kneehab" and I think I've come back stronger. Instead of thinking about what I couldn't do, I paid attention to strength & mobility in the whole chain from my hips through my legs to ankles & feet. I did a lot of very slow

With Achilles tendinitis, as well as doing things (like the Alfredson heel drops) specifically for the tendons, are you looking at mobility & flexibility in your ankles and all the tiny intrinsic muscles in the feet? Picking up tea towels with your toes, doming, etc. Are you working on mobility in your hips eg shin box switches? And so on.

Ah right - sorry didn't see your later post about it being a knee injury. Mine was also a knee injury but a cartilage tear and my physiotherapist encouraged me to - gently - load it. One legged squats, lots of work on the glutes. Not too much heavy weight lifting for a few months, but lighter weights were fine - so I kept training to a max of around 70 kilos. And I did a LOT of benching and lat pull downs!

But that fear of it going again, or making it worse, is REAL. An injury always makes me feel the fragility of my body. However, a year on, I think I'm stronger & more resilient than before (it's taken a long time because I'm in my mid-60s).

Upper body gym and swim
get a pullbouy it’ll lift you into a good position in the water and you won’t have to use your legs

look on line loads of swimming workouts to break it up a bit
you can do pyramid
100m
200m
300m
upto 500m then work your way back down

hand bike our gym has one in spin studio

Following with interest. I’ve injured my piriformis and I can’t currently walk very far or run. So I am similarly feeling a bit like a spare part. Physio said I could try cycling which I’m contemplating at the moment but I am worried about aggravating the injury and setting myself back.

I go by feel.

I had achilles tendonitis a couple of years ago so had to stop running for a while. I kept up my strength classes, but kept the cardio intervals low impact. Managed swimming, cycling and short walks.
I did get to the point where I needed to run again, so started from literally running for a minute after school drop-off while I was warmed up, and built it up 30s at a time. Such a short run was basically strength work in itself. At that point I couldn't have done C25k- I switched to that when I was comfortable running a mile.

I've currently got a totally different, upper body injury. Again, I'm taking the impact out. Still doing strength, but using a comfortable weight for each arm and a comfortable range of motion for each side. Being very careful about posture.

I generally feel better for moving and the improved circulation helps with recovery. Just strip it right back and gently add back up within the comfort zone and back off at anything that feels wrong.

It is hard. I had a shoulder injury some years back that I saw a physio for. Stuck at it, and never notice it now, tho it is a full thickness RC tear.

I now have (self-diagnosed) golfer's elbow (I lift weights and it is common), which is also the tendon. Tendons do take ages to heal and it must be hard being your knee.

With mine, I can't do boxing so am running instead. And each week I can do more of the upper body strength training that is my focus - I am doing anything that doesn't hurt plus some physio type exercises. And I've taken the chance to start training legs properly.

In your shoes, if possible I would get some PT or something for upper body in the gym to give you focus and something new to learn.

It is hard, it does mess with your head a bit especially if you usually enjoy daily movement as well as exercise, but it will get better!

I agree with pp about things like gardening and DIY - it is easier to move in a slow and controlled way, gradually increasing load, intensity and range and listening to your injury, in the gym.

It's frustrating and very hard. I would literally get so fed up and cry. Swimming gently, trying upper body dumbbell seated exercises (I popped a calf muscle it seems). I never had physio, it's just something I've never done. I just wait and test it gently. Doubt it's the best approach but there you go. I know there is a weakness because it niggles sometimes so I listen and take some days off the exercises, try rest. I find gentle ballet exercises off you tube is helping at the minute. You feel a bit of a tit mind you. I'm simply easing back into it after an injury. I feel your pain however. I really do.

A weighted swim belt which kept me upright in the water was the turning point for me. The action of the water on my leg really helped circulation and helped me feel what I was doing, so that I could be sure I was not doing any damage

Started working 121 with a yoga teacher who was recommended for rehab and have continued with her support nearly a decade later. An absolute turning point for me in terms of exercise but a really truely silver lining

Now in my sixties, in the best shape of my life.

I had bursitis in both knees a few years ago and it was agony(too many lunges apparently). My doctor told me complete rest, basically sit on the sofa and watch netflix for a week and no gym until they're better and a massive telling off for the amount of lunges.

I couldn't walk without crying, stairs were impossible, thankfully I live in a ground floor flat. I was off the gym for a month, then it was just gentle exercise, no squats or lunges. But that month was the worst as I couldn't do anything, walking was too painful so I was getting frustrated and depressed.

I remember saying to my pt when I started back "when I can walk up that set of steps without pain I know it's better". It took 12 months to get to that point.

I haven't used a rowing machine since as I'm sure that also contributed (but the 60 lunges per leg on leg day were the main cause).

Now when it hurts I stop, if my knees are sore after my warm up I change what I'm doing. So instead of lunges I do step ups. I also do 15 minutes on the bike before starting so my knees warm up a bit.

I follow a really interesting PT and body builder on Instagram & YouTube- Team For Never Lean (TFNL) He was saying that often we think volume is good when actually higher weights and fewer reps will make us stronger and healthier.

when I was kneehabbing, I did quite a few step ups, gradually stepping up on higher and higher boxes. But I did them very slowly, particularly on the downwards part. If you do it properly, 10 step ups on each leg, done very slowly and with control, will make you stronger.