Reframing Injury

I am not a doctor, and injuries should be treated by a medical team on a case-by-case basis. This is general advice, but anything you do to treat an injury should be under the supervision of your medical team.

Sometimes injuries are inevitable and unavoidable.

Severity is important to consider, of course, but there are some things that can help whether you are severely injured or just resting a sore joint for a few days.

RICE is an outdated practice.

RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) was a protocol for injury developed in the 1970s, but science has moved on. Rest is not exactly wrong, but it is an incomplete picture, and ice is now believed to inhibit healing by reducing the body's natural inflammatory response.

This isn't to say you shouldn't take a day off training if you're feeling a twinge from an old injury. If you're running and your knee hurts more than usual, you probably want to skip the run the next day. But instead of running, you should be doing some movement and rehabilitation to get the knee working properly again to reduce your chances of lighting up your injury again.

Some new alternatives to RICE have been proposed: POLICE (Protection, Optimal Loading, Ice, Compression, Elevation), MEAT (Movement, Exercise, Analgesia, Therapy), or PEACE & LOVE, which prioritize early movement and active rehabilitation over strict immobilization.

In other words, don't use an injury as an excuse to quit or lay on the couch. Use it as an opportunity to learn about you body and strengthen an area of weakness to some back from your injury more knowledgeable and stronger.

Be not discouraged.

One of the toughest aspects of injury is the mental componenent. It is easy to fall into a spiral when your body "betrays" you with an injury. You think you're doing the right thing, exercising, moving, and then you are taken down.

It is easy to sink into despair.

It's ok to wallow a little if your injury is taking you away from an activity you love for weeks, months, or years. Take your time grieving the loss.

But once you have moved through your grief, adopt a positive mindset and start celebrating little wins.

When I had a herniated disc, recovery was long, and it felt like every time I made a little progress, felt a little stronger, I would have another flare-up that would make me feel like I would never move easily again. This mindset cause stress, which feeds inflammation, which slowed my recovery.

Give yourself some affirmations that feel true.

"I will make it through this injury." "With time, I will heal." "I will come back from this slowly, but I will do it right." "Pain is my body's way of protecting me."

Celebrate the little victories.

Celebrating the little wins makes it easier to get through the long process of healing from an injury which has so few effective treatments. The most effective treatment? Time, gentle movement, and targeted strength and mobility work.

Little wins can be incredibly small, but you can still take a moment to celebrate. Maybe you could barely move your knee or elbow, and now you can slowly, carefully work through a bigger range of motion. Maybe you couldn't bend over, but now you can slightly. Maybe you lost the ability to do a certain stretch or exercise completely, but now you can do a small piece of it again.

Celebrate!

Thank you for taking the time to read this! I wish you freedome from injury, but if you are injured, I hope you have a swift and complete recovery.