4 Things Injury has Taught me

Being injured is not fun. Especially when it takes you away from the thing you most love doing.

For me that isn’t just running, but it’s general fitness. I’m not going to lie. Not being able to exercise made me feel depressed, stressed, and moody.

Exercise was my outlet. It was my me time.

Getting my heart rate up not only made me feel physically good, it keeps me mentally sharp, and fuelled my creative juices.

Injury can happen to anyone at anytime, and they always seem to happen when you least expect it.

My Injury time line

• 22nd October: Super slow trail run with running friend Kayleen. Ended the day with a fever and sick with a cold.
• 31st October: Easy 6km run. It was slow, but was happy to be back out running. Back into the training plan.
• 7th November: Easy 7km run. While getting ready for work, had a coughing fit and heard something pop in my back.
• 9th November: Hill Repeats 8km. My slowest to day. Back still a little sore.
• 10th November: Pain in my back, and in my glute. Pain seem to be getting worse. Made the decision if that it was not better by the morning to see a physio.
• 11th November: Shooting pain not only in my back, but glute, and pins and needles all down my right leg. Booked into the physio immediately.
• 21st November: Slow easy 5km run, approved by physio. New that I would not be able to run the 21km at Afterglow
• 26th November: Ran/Walked the 12km at Afterglow.
• 29th November: No more pins & needles.
• 30th November: Physio happy with my improvements.
• 18th December: Woke up with stiffness in my hip and mild pain.
• 19th December: Hip pain, progressively worse. Was unable to finish my shift at work due to the pain.
  The pain was isolate to my hip but was radiating down my leg. I had no pins and needles, but the pain was so bad I was starting to get the shakes.
  I was able to get into the doctor to get some pain relief, she agreed that my sciatic never had been aggravated and was causing the pain and limited movement.
  I had also arranged to visit the physio for the next day.
• 20th December: Physio was surprised to see me limping again. Felt better after treatment, but I still had pain standing, sitting, laying down, and could barely walk.
  Was advise not to do any exercise or to work for the rest of the week.
• 21st December: Less pain and more movement, starting to see improvements.
• 5th January: Physio happy with my improvements and to keep up with active recovery, and to restart the physio exercises I was first advised to do.
• 9th January: 1st return to running with 1:1 run:walk intervals.

Sciatic issues can take up to 3 months an longer to heal.

My injury as seen me inactive for approximately 2 1/2 months, which falls in line with the sciatic recovery time.

In those 2 1/2 months out injured I learned a lot about myself.

Four Things Injury Have Taught Me

Knowing the difference between general tightness/soreness to actual pain

Always listen to your body. It has this amazing capability to know the difference between tightness / soreness to actual pain.

When you reach the peak your training plan it’s normal to feel or have general tightness and soreness. It’s when that tightness develops into pain that you have an issue.

Listen to your body, if you are starting to feel pain, and the pain is not improving seek a professional opinion. Don’t hope that it will get better.

Seek professional advice

Where it is a physiotherapist, chiropractor, osteopathy, are whoever you choose, tell them EVERYTHING, even if you think it’s nothing, the more information they have, they better recovery plan they can give you.

While I had pain in my back and glute, I also had pins and needles radiating down my leg, with numbness in my foot (but no pain there).

The 2nd injury incident the pain was different but I knew it was all related to my first injury. While I had no pins and needles the pain was not something that I wanted to experience.

If you look at my injury time line I knew when I needed to see the physio. I wasn’t improving, so I sought early intervention because I didn’t want to cause more damage and be injured for longer than necessary.

Do EXACTLY what your therapist tells you to do

Even if you hate doing it, if you want to recovery faster, do exactly what they tell you to do.

Also tell them if you experience any pain, or discomfort while doing any prescribed exercises.

On my rehab plan I have clams. I hate clams, but I do them, because she tells me to do them, and well they are working.

Without sticking to the plan, there is no way I would be back out there running.

I’m back running because of my rehab plan.

While myself and my physio not sure what exactly caused the injury relapse, sticking to the exercise recommendations the physio prescribed and having an active recovery has helped.

Focus on what you can do

While injury sucks, it definitely has given me a new perspective.

Rather than focus on what I couldn’t do, I’m focusing on what I can do.

My injury is improving, and that’s simply because I am doing the exercises my physio tells me to do everyday.

I no longer have the pain in my back.

Occasionally I get prickly pins and needs in my back, but with a few simple exercises I do throughout the day help to ease that discomfort.

Recovery can and is a slow process. But I know that If I stick to my rehab plan I will become a stronger and better runner.

This article/blog post originally featured on RunMum.