Getting over an injury

When you’re getting started with a new workout routine, there is often a set pattern of events that tends to occur:

1. You set up a plan.
2. You get excited, pumped, and ready for action.
3. The workouts begin and you start to see some results.
4. You wake up one morning to realize you can’t walk due to knee pain.
5. The doctor tells you to rest for 6-8 weeks to let your knee recover before reengaging in strenuous exercise.
6. After 6-8 weeks, you’re in worse shape than when you started.

Have you ever felt this way? For me, this always seems to happen when I decide I’m actually going to work myself up to running a marathon (this is only one of my many lifetime fitness goals). I’m ready to go, dedicated, and then injured. It really doesn’t seem to matter how slowly I build or or how careful I am, something always seems to go wrong.

When it comes to getting into great shape, very little can be more discouraging. So, what are your options? Well, you could just give up your hopes and dreams of physical greatness, or you could actually take the time you need to recover and develop a plan that has a better chance of success.

My most recent bout with injury, especially on the running realm, is with a stress fracture in my left shin. If you’ve never had a stress fracture, do whatever you can to avoid them! As the name implies, they are simply a hairline bone fracture. While not as painful as a full bone fracture, the dull ache that you feel when you have one is certainly not pleasant and will keep you from engaging in any sort of meaningful exercise. The only option? Well, just like the doctor says, you have to stay off it and allow it to heal.

For me, however, it just never seemed to matter how long I allowed my stress fracture to heal, the injury would always come back within a few weeks of recommencing my running routine. I became very frustrated and was ready to give up on getting back into shape.

So, what was my solution? I had to try something completely different. Rather than starting back up with another running plan when I thought I had healed enough, I started another, completely different plan called P90X. Now, P90X is a great program. I love it and would recommend it to anyone.

The reason why I had so much success with it, however, is solely due to the fact that I made it through injury free! The routine was just different enough that I didn’t run the risk of re-injuring my shin and aggravating my stress fracture yet again. By changing up my workout routine in a significant way, I was able to get into great shape and remain healthy. It meant that I wouldn’t be running for 3 months, but it was ok. I was still accomplishing some major physical goals without the risk of falling into the same injury traps I had in the past.

So, if you’re struggling due to a reoccurring injury in your workout routine, do what I did: Switch it up. Try something new for a while. You might just be amazed at the results!

Photo by mellyjean.