In the last post I spoke about maintaining a positive mindset to help transition smoothly into the rehabilitation process. In this post I want to speak on the physical side. This includes the injury itself, training while rehabbing, and most importantly: Not being stupid.
Once you know the severity of the injury and its been diagnosed, find a physical therapist immediately. The rehabilitation process can be a long and grueling one checkered with many ups and downs. The person you choose should make you feel safe and keep you pointed in the right direction. Trust is huge. A plus if they've successfully rehabbed your injury and know the demands of sport you'll be returning to.
Here are things I personally look for in a physical therapist:
They listen: I think this is a global red flag but if your therapist doesn't listen to what you have to say, it's time to find a new one. It's an emotional time, reassurance is needed. Me personally I catastrophize. So if I'm not told otherwise by someone I trust, I assume the worst case scenario and fall down the rabbit hole. So feedback and open lines of communication are important.
They have a plan: There should always be a plan of care in place. You should know roughly how many times a week and for how many weeks total it should take to get you back to normal. You should be filled in on how you're progressing/what to do regularly. If you're showing up and doing the same things every session with no explanation, find a new therapist.
They prepare you: There's a misconception about rehab that all it is is stretching, floor exercises, and therabands. I remember my first experience going to therapy in high school for back pain. I sat on a bike for 15 minutes, did planks, then laid down for an ice pack/heat pack rotation. This was what my rehab looked like for however many sessions insurance had allotted me. How would that EVER prepare my body to get back into football at a high level? It didn't. I healed mainly because at that age you're 99% indestructible. The point I'm making is that rehab should restore you back to previous levels of activity, if not higher. The main difference between training vs rehab is intensity, load management, and range of motion. If you never progress from low-intensity, rudimentary rehabilitation exercises, find a new therapist.
Continuing to train while recovering is essential to the process. "Motion is the potion" and "Movement is medicine" are great illustrations of this. The body is extremely adaptive and durable. It will take much more than a single injury to get you to the point where you're completely sidelined. You'll want to focus on training your uninjured limbs at the highest safest intensity, making regressions and modifications as needed. This is important for a few reasons:
Motivation: After an injury it isn't uncommon for motivation to plummet. Although you'll have to take a break from your usual session structure, that doesn't mean you can't still make progress. Create new goals for the new situation you're in. Double down on your weaknesses. Try to set personal bests on qualities you've been neglecting for all these years. Challenge yourself so that you keep the habit of training and the motivation to show up and improve.
Cross-Education: The most important reason to continue training is the phenomenon called "Cross-education." Most people are afraid to train using just their uninjured limb. The fear of creating a muscular imbalance or building mass while your other limb atrophies away is valid if you haven't been told otherwise. But rejoice, these concerns are myths. Training of the uninjured limb has been shown to spare muscular atrophy while maintaining size and strength of the injured side. If that doesn't motivate you to keep training I don't know what will.
You're motivated, training hard (within reason). All that's left to do now is.......
Stay healthy.
The worst thing you can do at this point is get overzealous and re-injure yourself. Rule number one is trust the process. If you aren't supposed to load until month three, do not load until month three no matter how good you're feeling. We all want to believe we're special and that we're tough. But human physiology has its limits and healing takes time. Do what you can to assist in the healing process, not hinder. When it's all said and done you'll want to look back and be proud of all that you've accomplished. Happy healing!
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