My Injury Roadmap

Disclaimer: I am not a qualified doctor or physical therapist, and you should always seek help from a medical professional for any kind of injury or pain you’re experiencing. 

I wish I could say I never get injured. That I’ve figured out some special secret to never getting hurt, whilst also being able to train as much as I want and make all the amazing gains… 

But this is not the case. 

If you do any sort of physical activity, injury is part of the journey. 

The higher level you train at, the higher the risk of injury because you push yourself harder. I’m not saying this to be negative or try and deter people from training hard. It’s just the reality of being physically active and being an athlete. If you train your body, there is always a chance injury can happen at some point down the line, and I don’t feel like this is talked about enough or it’s just viewed purely as a failure.

I’ve had some fairly severe injuries in the past… I’ve broken my foot and been unable to walk. I’ve torn muscles, and damaged connective tissue. I’ve also had very minor strains and sprains that healed pretty quickly. 

The longer I train for, the more I realise that oftentimes injury is our body’s way of telling us something. Injury is more likely to happen when we over train, don’t take enough rest, try and do skills we aren’t ready for, don’t warm up, and generally don’t listen to how our bodies feel. It’s enforced rest, often a way for our bodies to get the break that they need. 

I also feel that the frustrating and difficult situation can be turned around and used for good. In the past I used to have full on emotional melt downs in response to injury. But having accepted they’re part of what I do and will occasionally happen, I now have a much better idea of how to handle being injured, how to rehab my body, and how to get back to where I want to be. And that’s what I want to share in this post.

My injury roadmap:

Step 1: If it’s bad enough that I need to stop all training and rest, that is always the first step. If your body has been injured it’s experiencing a trauma, so fully resting is often ideal. By that I mean lying down on the sofa for several days, or longer if need be. This allows your body to calm down and start repairing itself, as well as mentally giving yourself a break. 

Not allowing yourself this initial period of nothing can be quite detrimental (as I have experienced), so I really recommend it. Healing an injury uses up a lot of energy, especially at the start, so I try and be as kind as possible to my body and not put any pressure or expectations on myself to do anything.

Step 2: I will look at what is needed to help rehab the injury. Depending on what the injury is, I’ll look at what sort of movements will help it to heal. If you’ve had an injury where you’ve lost function then the process is a bit different, and you first need to regain that function. At some point though an injury needs movement, as well as strengthening and stretching to help it to heal. 

An easy mistake is to think that you should just do nothing for several months, and then start training again like nothing happened. Rehabbing is important because it also helps you to keep some training ticking along without over doing things. 

Step 3: I will look at what other goals I could work on in the meantime. Working around an injury can be tricky but it’s not impossible. I find setting brand new goals helps to keep me motivated and focused, and it feels like less of a loss to not be training what I originally wanted to. The more intention behind why we do anything, the easier it is to do, and so this is why I create new goals for myself.

An example would be when I broke my foot, I could still train my core and upper body so I focused on those things. I did a lot of rings and drills on the floor. Take the opportunity to address weaknesses or work on neglected areas and appreciate that you can finally have that as a focus. 

Step 4: I will take a look at other aspects of training and recovery such as sleep, stress levels and nutrition. When I’m training a lot I don’t feel like I have the band width to make changes to my lifestyle, but when I’m forced to stop it’s a really good opportunity to hone in on current habits and see if they can be improved. 

Improving things like sleep and nutrition will also help with your actual recovery, so it’s a win win.

Step 5: I’ll focus on things other make me feel good, like baking, knitting, going for a walk, seeing friends etc. Having things to do that are not related to training, but bring me joy are really crucial during an injury. I don’t want to lie around with nothing to do letting my brain spiral. 

How you feel about your situation and your injury can impact how much pain you’re in and your rate of recovery. So I’m not saying don’t feel your feelings, but just make sure you have positive activities you can do that make you feel good, and that take the focus away from your body.

Step 6: I will try and identify what’s caused the injury and address that to avoid it happening a second time. I am quite fortunate in that I don’t have the same recurring injuries. Once I’ve had an injury I’m pretty good at avoiding the same thing happening again. I look at exactly what caused it and create a plan to avoid doing the same thing. 

Injuries give us information about our bodies and our physical limits. If you can pay attention to this, you can avoid repeating injuries and ultimately build a more capable and stronger body. If you’re every unsure of how to avoid re-injuring yourself, it’s worth reaching out to a coach.

Step 7: I try to focus on the reality of what’s going on - everything is temporary and nothing lasts forever, so I know I will eventually get back to doing what I want to. Injuries can feel never ending. Taking time off from training can feel never ending. But being off for a month or two is a very short amount of time in the grand scheme of your life. And your body will heal, and you will get back to training. 

So I also try to remember that there’s no rush to get back. This is another big downfall for a lot of us. It’s all temporary, and I have the time to give my body the break it truly needs. Avoiding putting a time line on things definitely helps.

To be really clear, everyone’s body is different so there’s no one size fits all for recovery. And if you are dealing with a serious injury, getting medical advice is really important to do first of all. Once you know what the injury is and what caused it, you can look at how to rehab it and work with a physio or coach. 

What I’m sharing is what works for me, which I’ve worked out from nearly 13 years of training. Some of the things I’ve learnt I’d recommend to anyone. I think we can probably all agree that time off when you’re first injured is a good idea, and figuring out what caused the injury to avoid it in the future is worth doing. But ultimately we’re all on our own journeys so it’s about figuring out what works for you. 

And the last thing I want to add is that being injured isn’t a failure. In a world where we always have to be showing people how well we’re doing and how much we are achieving, being injured can feel shameful and like we’re going backwards. But these are literally as important experiences to go through as each time you achieve a new skill or hit a new goal. It’s all a learning experience, and you’ll always come out the other side. 

Cake definitely helps injuries.