Tag: rehab

  • The Comeback Plan: How To Recover From An Injury

    The Comeback Plan: How To Recover From An Injury

    I’d be stating the obvious by saying injuries suck. They do, and here’s my perspective on how you get through them as quickly as physically possible and as mentally sane as possible. And if you’re curious to read my 17-week comeback plan journal from a shoulder labrum repair surgery, read this.

    Accept the reality

    If you don’t accept it, it’s just going to be a never ending misery and madness. This one shouldn’t need much of an explanation, but I feel like I need to remind myself of this all the time. In my instance, I had a tear in my shoulder. It was either surgery or not. I could live with it, and it could bug me from time to time or interrupt things I love, but would that drive me crazy knowing I could have fixed it? The moment I accepted the fact that conservative measures weren’t enough to get me back to full function and how that wouldn’t work for me, then the sooner I accepted the long recovery process. If I had not decided to do this, I would have been pondering whether I should or should not live with it while uncomfortably living with it. Accept reality, make your best possible informed decision, and move on to the next step with conviction. No looking back. However, just to be clear, this doesn’t mean jump into to surgery. Always try conservative measures first. But whatever you do, the key is to accept the problem and do what needs to be done to resolve or manage it — don’t sulk in it.

    Write out the comeback plan immediately—and be thorough

    To get through the process of recovery you’ve got to know what to expect throughout the ordeal. Then, come up with everything you need and need to do to move forward and write it down.

    This was my immediate plan once I decided I was going to get surgery:

    • Going to be messed up a few days. Take the opportunity to digital detox.
    • Can’t run or lift for a while. Purchase a stationary bike and ride for 30-60 mins daily.
    • Use this opportunity to focus on my mental strength. Try performing 5-10 min of meditation or box breathing everyday.
    • Activity levels will be lower than normal, so food consumptions should be too.
    • Start making out the workout plan for the return.
    • Purchase resistance bands for once strength begins. 
    • Stock up on the supplements (even though it’s an itty bitty sliver part of the battle). 
      • I go with glucosamine, chondroitin, fish oil, collagen, DHEA, creatine + beta-tested a cannabinoid cream by Mab & Stoke (and obviously protein)
    • Start doing 20 minutes of core 3x as soon as possible 

    The rest of the comeback plan for me was:

    You’ve been through this before, go to PT, do the exercises, follow it religiously, keep eating healthy, exercise in other ways, and stay positive. Another is to print a calendar for several months and mark out milestones and to-dos, specifically for the recovery.

     

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    Follow that comeback plan, strictly

    When it comes to a recovery plan, there is no cheating. Seriously, you can’t skip doing the exercises or your progress will stall and you will not get better. Of course there are always exceptions, but 98% of the time you should be committed to doing what needs to be done to get better and nothing less. 

    Celebrate every little win

    Use this opportunity to track even the smallest marks of progress along the way. Journal it like I did. Again, you can read that long thing here.

    Be patient, but persistent 

    All injuries are different. They feel different and heal differently. If you set your plan in place at the get go then you’re in a good position and already prepared to be patient. The next step is then to actually be patient. Expect to get frustrated, feel down, go negative. That will happen. The key is to remind yourself that you have a plan for the process and if you follow it, you’ll be good.

    In my scenario, I knew I’d be in a sling for 4-6 weeks. I knew I wouldn’t be able to run for around 8 weeks. I knew I wouldn’t be in the gym for a while. And I knew I wouldn’t get in the ocean for even longer. The only thing I could tell myself (and I still need to tell myself) is that ‘I’ll get there.’ And you know what? I am. And so can you.

    Go a question? Want no BS fitness content? Be sure to follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Follow HFP on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok too.

     

  • 6 moves I used to tame a cranky knee joint in 6 weeks

    6 moves I used to tame a cranky knee joint in 6 weeks

    As like many of you, I’m a very active person, and when you’re active, it’s inevitable to get some bumps, bruises, tweaks, twists, pops, and cracks. That’s why it’s so important to build a body that’s both strong and agile. But, sometimes that’s not even enough and you end up needing to recover, rebuild, and move forward again.

    See also: my recovery from shoulder surgery

    Around April or May of this spring, I bolted down the beach as fast as I could. (I didn’t warm up. The waves were pumping.) As I got down to the water line my foot landed funny in a small h0le in the wet sand and my left knee gave out. I had some pain for a minute or two, then it subsided and I went on with my session. The next day I was fine too, but had some minor discomfort walking down stairs. Over time the injury didn’t seem to get better, but it didn’t seem to get worse either. Sometimes it felt fine, other times it didn’t. Then, instead of it being bothersome going down stairs, it became bothersome going up stairs. It was more of an annoyance than anything else, but finally, after a couple more weeks, it went away on it’s own. I was relieved.

    Then, late this summer, out of the blue, my knee started to bother me again. I never did anything to irritate it, but I started having trouble with stairs again. One week it was going up the stairs, then next week it was going down the stairs. Then, it started hurting when I squat. (which never was a problem before). I decided to get it checked out. It was never swollen, I could fully extend it, walking and running on flat ground was no problem, and an MRI showed no structure damage. What the heck? Was it patellar tendonitis? Was it bursitis? Maybe it’s the IT band? No one seemed to be 100% sure.

    Regardless of the confusion there was one I was sure about: the knee is annoyingly complex. But, there was something else I was sure about: the importance of training the posterior chain, aka the backside of the body.

    Here’s what I was thinking

    If I shift my training a bit to target my glutes and hamstrings more, things will improve. Sure enough, they did.

    Here’s exactly what I did and why

    I trained legs twice per week with a heavy focus on engaging the glutes and hamstrings as much as possible. I avoided traditional front and back squats and switched out forward lunges for short stride reverse lunges. For 2 weeks, I trained with light weight and high reps (10,12, 15 or so), then for 4 weeks I trained with heavier weight and lower reps (6,8,10 or so). Below are the six main moves I did.

    Overhead squats with PVC

    I liked these to warm-up my entire body. Holding the PVC tube overhead and dropping into a squat really feels like it expands the ribcage and opens everything up.

    Monster walk

    I like these to get those glutes fired up. The way I do them are a bit modified from what you might have seen out there, but I can certainly feel the glutes working.

    Calve raises

    I think these are overlooked. Everything is all connected down there. I hadn’t done calf-specific work in years. I decided to strengthen them up.

    Single-leg Dumbbell Deadlift

    I love these because it uncovered imbalances. These were a little uncomfortable at first, but I improved from the first couple reps onward. Balancing out imbalances sounds like a good idea, right?

    Stiff-leg Dumbbell Deadlift

    I love these because I could really hammer the hamstrings.

    Glute-focused Dumbbell Sumo Deadlift

    Instead of doing a traditional sumo deadlift and working the quads in there, I kick my butt back a bit and really focus on the glutes and hams for the movement. It’s just another variation to get them to work.

    What I’ve learned the most

    I’ve had (and still have) some muscular imbalances that I need to stay on top of. These exercises and this training tweak really improved things for me.

    I forgot to engage my glutes and hamstrings a lot of the time. These exercises really woke them up from their slumber. I’m now much more consciously aware of it.