My physio has it in for me!!

Its been at least two years now since I last played a serious game  of badminton. I used to play at least 3 tor 4 times a week, social and league matches were great fun and an awesome way to keep up with some cardio work. Although it wasn’t to any high standard I considered myself good enough to give someone a good game. Unfortunately my playing was dealt a huge blow when I found out that the discomfort I had felt in my wrist over the year was down to a fractured scaphoid! This was not the news I wanted as it meant that if I continued playing badminton I would need a major wrist operation sooner rather than later. This had many consequences, a couple being no work, no sport for at least 3 – 6 months. Arghhhh.

Life without a racket

The answer was obvious! I had to replace racket sports (unless I go left handed – never going to happen) with something to fill that void badminton had left behind and 5 aside football was the answer.

Its now two years playing football and a slight niggle in the knee has meant another quick trip to my physio. Now I’m sure I haven’t done anything to upset her in the past but it seems that everytime I see her I’m met with similar news. “You may need to drop your sport” a sentence that feels like being smacked in the face with a shovel. The good news is that with a bit of physio work I can hopefully make a return.  The temptation is to just resign myself to life without sport due to constant injuries, but that’s just not in my nature. I have already started to think about my next sporting direction, something that avoids knees and wrists….hmmm, that may be tricky. What I do know is that I will not let an injury stop me, I will simply find another sport or choose a different exercise.

Don’t let injuries stop you

Now please hear me correctly, if you have an injury or a pain you need to train wisely. I never stopped badminton to take up tennis that would’ve been ridiculous! You don’t train shoulders hard if you have a pain in your shoulders!! I understand you are game and ready to go, but we need to think beyond today. We are not professional athletes and tomorrow is not the Olympics. When you are injured, your priority is dealing with your injury, or at the very least, not worsening it. If you are dealing with an injury requiring a long healing period, a shoulder injury for example, be careful you do not cause other injuries or imbalances in your training. If your left shoulder is hurt and you spend three months only working your right arm and right shoulder, you are setting yourself up for future problems. It is not just your arms, but your back, hips, and legs that will be affected by this constant unbalanced unilateral movement. In this scenario, you are better of focusing on lower body and core exercises – we all love leg day right?

Is that a set of crutches?

Over the years I’ve been impressed at the dedication of some gym members. I have seen lads with broken legs hobble in on crutches, find a bench, pick up some dumbbells and hit a big upper body session. Now that’s commitment.

Some experts believe that the trick to dealing with any training injury is to work as hard as you can on exercises that are similar to the ones that bother you. A slight reduction in range of motion, change of grip or stance, is all that separates a productive workout from one that makes your injury worse.

Pain is not always ‘weakness leaving the body’ its often your body’s way of saying ‘be careful’. Yet, one thing is certain, you don’t have to let it get in the way of your fitness, there are often ways around it.

You really only have 2 options with an injury

1. Wallow in self pity and allow yourself to go backwards while you slowly recover.

See the injury as an opportunity and challenge to correct weaknesses and recover as quickly as possible.

 

What option will you take? Remember, having a successful and speedy recovery is your responsibility, no one else's.