Female personal trainer, Becky, works at a gym in Horsham, West Sussex. During the summer, she sustained an injury which has taught her a lot about healing and training. She shares more here…
This isn’t my first rodeo with injury or rehab, but it has been a very different journey. Some of my other situations were basically planned injuries, due to being as a result of surgeries. Others were less so, as this one was. What’s unique this time is that I don’t know how or when I actually broke myself, but what I do know is that I did a comprehensive job. As a result, recovery has been physically and emotionally challenging, and I thought I’d share some important things I’ve learned.
Every injury is different
This one really should’ve been obvious, but I have had another recurring injury, and sort of thought I’d be able to apply certain principles this time too. Nope. This time is different, and I’ve had to learn to respond differently. This one hasn’t so much been about resting, but about actively encouraging and working through recovery. I’ve found that emotionally difficult – I’ve had to really persuade myself to trust my body, and keep pushing, rather than backing too far off and letting things get worse by not working enough. It’s a very fine balance.
So many things are connected
When I initially got myself assessed by an osteopath (more on that in a second), we thought we’d figured out the problem. My psoas (more commonly referred to as hip flexor) and glute were very unhappy, so we worked on those, and I went away to do more. Things still weren’t right, and the next problem we identified was my quadratus lumborum (QL – your lower back) muscle. There was a good degree of improvement after that, but then things were still really quite wrong.
It took me turning a lightbulb on whilst training and realising that it wasn’t my balance that was specifically off – as I’d initially thought during a yoga class two days previously – but the fact that I had no power through my lower leg. At all. And that’s when we figured out I’d also strained my calf.
See what I mean about having done a comprehensive job?
Try different modalities
My body had steadily crumbled to the point that I woke up one morning and could hardly walk. And, when I say “woke up”, I’d also barely slept. A consultation with my GP surgery saw them book me for physiotherapy, but I was also advised that “if you have the means…” to try and see a practitioner sooner at my own expense.
That’s when I got talked into seeing an osteopath. He was recommended by members of my family, and I was really quite desperate. I took a deep breath and put decades of anxiety to one side – I’d seen one as a child and found it a really negative experience. Then, having had surgery on my back, I became very picky about who I let touch my precious difficulties, for fear of not being understood and ending up with a bigger problem than I started with.
I told the osteopath this, he listened, and he was gentle with me physically and emotionally. That’s how you know you’ve found a good one.
Adjust your practice
One of the things I’ve learned is that I have to PT slightly differently. Moving weights around all day wasn’t doing my body any favours, so I’m passing additional responsibility to my clients now. I find this incredibly hard, as I was always taught that an element of “hosting” is part of the service, but I also have to protect my body. Because, without the use of it, I have no business. And on that note…
My clients are brilliant
I already knew this. I had to cancel two sessions due to being unable to work, and those clients took the news very well. As I’ve hobbled around the gym recovering, everyone has continued to be kind and understanding – hopefully a reflection of my own services too.
I’ve aimed throughout to have as positive of a mindset as possible. I’ve chosen my words pretty carefully, to try and remind myself that things are getting better, and being injured isn’t a forever thing. As I write this, there are still some issues that I’m working on, but progress has absolutely been made, and I know that I’m going to be stronger for the whole thing. Hopefully not to be repeated, though…