My journey back from a recent gym injury

Back in August this year I experienced an injury….

What happened?

I was feeling really good about some new found range and strength in the depth of my squats.

I had some anterior hip pain (pain at the front of the hip) last year and I had focussed on rehab-ing this. The result was access to more hip flexion under load than my system had previously let me access.

So I got excited, and decided to push it.
It felt good to feel strong in some new places.

But my body WAS giving me some signals that I was maybe pushing it a bit too quickly with the load.

There were some slight niggles during the lifts, and my left hamstring tendon (under the buttocks) was definitely pulling up a bit sore after the workouts.

Testing week was coming up - and I REEAAALLLYYY wanted a gold star for a personal best.

So I kept going.
I got the lift I wanted - a new personal best.

But my tendon was now REALLY sore, and affecting the movements I could comfortably do in normal life.

I had developed an injury - when the job asked of my body exceeded its capacity.

What did I do?

I didn’t panic.

I reassured myself that…

• My body can heal

• My body is resilient

• I have lots of options to keep moving

I reflected on the events leading up to it so that I could figure out what had happened.

I explored which movements and positions were the most painful and took note of these.

How did I manage it OUTSIDE the gym & studio?

I prioritised…

• Getting a good amount of quality sleep

• Staying hydrated

• Fuelling myself, including eating enough protein

• Not sitting in painful positions when working

• Getting up and moving regularly when working

How did I manage it INSIDE the gym & studio?

I let my coaches and teacher know what was happening so that they could support me and make suggestions for my training sessions.

I avoided the painful positions and movements initially and focussed on finding tolerable movements to do in the training sessions. This included…

• reducing the range/size of the movements

• using boxes and blocks to help me limit how far I could go

• reducing the load for some exercises

• choosing different exercises that worked the same muscle groups but in a non-provocative position

• sometimes reducing the overall volume of training I was doing in a day or week

Every week I would move my body around to explore if the sensations had changed.

Sometimes the answer was ‘no’ - and so I kept limiting that movement

Sometimes the answer was ‘yes’ - and so I gave myself permission to move a little more in that position.

I also made sure to do a couple of specific exercises targeting the affected tissues and progressed these over the weeks.

Am I recovered?

The short answer is yes.

Nine weeks later I am back to doing Back Squats with a moderate - heavy load moving through my full range with confidence.

But….

I can still feel that the affected tissues on my left side are not as strong as they were a few months ago.

So….

While I will no longer be limiting myself in the training sessions I WILL continue to complete some targeted exercises to keep building the strength and resilience in those tissues so that they are STRONGER than before they were injured.

The journey back from injury can often feel long and boring.

But our bodies are amazing things that heal and regenerate - sometimes we just have to play the long game and give it time.

PS - this is not medical advice. If you have pain or injury and would like personalised advice for your situation please reach out to a qualified Health pro for an assessment and management plan.