It’s been many years since I’ve had to deal with an injury. Yeah, sure, I’ve had many small things come up but nothing serious. Almost 7 weeks ago I fell down a couple of stairs in our house and fractured my big toe. The experience has been humbling, scary, disconcerting, and has pushed me outside my comfort zone. And, it has reconnected me to the challenging experience of being injured.

The healing process is a tough challenge for everyone, but for elite athletes, the healing process is intense on so many levels.

Injury

The first really challenging blow for anyone with an injury, including myself, is that one minute you are moving along through life – uninjured. And the next moment, you are injured, laid up, and unable to participate in the things you love to do, big and small. Your social circle changes. Others keep going while you and I are left out.

Yes, one day you are active and the next, you are not. Not only can we no longer participate while everyone else is continuing to move forward, but we are left to deal with our new reality – to be patient while we try to heal and figure out what we can do versus focusing on what we can’t.

This was difficult for me. My new workout regime had been going well. I had also started playing Pickleball several times a week and was loving it. And now, I could not do any of it. It all came to a screeching halt. What could I do?

What you can do

This is critically important to figure out – for everyone. We can sit around and focus on what we can’t do, make ourselves and everyone around us miserable, or we can focus on what we can do. There may be things you don’t ordinarily have time for or have always wanted to try and this is a good time for those things. Dare I say, this may even be a good time to realize there are some positives to being injured.

Yes, when I initially got injured, I was certainly not jumping up and down about it. I was angry and felt like my life was temporarily taken from me. At least until I switched my focus to reorganizing my life and being productive in other ways. And, after a couple of weeks I could do some physical things like lifting and core work, if I was careful.

It’s not just a physical process because it’s an injury. As a matter of fact, it is mostly a mental process. This is the part you can control.

Working through the unknown

There will be many moments of unknowns in the process of recovering from an injury. What’s happened? What does it mean? How long will it take? What does the process look like? That unknown is different for everyone and as I am learning, takes as long as it takes. That is why, it’s important to educate yourself on the process, but be present in your current life and move through it as best you can.

This has been the most difficult for me. I asked and continue to ask a lot of questions. Fortunately, I was able to get some answers while others were not as concrete. For example, the first three weeks both of my lower legs were killing me. Unexpected but normal given that I was wearing the post op shoe which is taller than all my other sneakers and was walking differently because of it.

I didn’t have much pain during weeks 3, 4 and 5 but in week 6 started experiencing some pain that has persisted. I started cycling in week 6 without pain but have been having some other, unexplainable pain that doesn’t seem to be associated with cycling. The doctor can’t account for all of it. Today I had another X-ray done to see what may be going on.

To continue healing and make progress with your injury, you must:

• Stay present
• Work on those things you know you can do and are supposed to be doing
• Ask questions
• Move through this vast unknown that’s very uncomfortable

Fear

How can there not be fear? You must accept and deal with it. Injury is scary stuff. Will I be OK? When will I be able to resume my activities or can I? Will my injured area fully recover? There are common things that come to mind. Pain is also scary. What does it mean? Not being able to participate is scary. Will I be motivated and confident enough to return particularly when everyone else has continued to get better?

You may get answers and you may not. I still do not have the answers to some of these. The doctor said that even when I return to more activity there will still be pain and swelling. She also said, it may take another 3-6 months to fully recover. What? Yikes!

So your biggest fear may be the simple fact that others in your sport continue to practice, compete, and get better while you have to take time to recover. I am certainly not going to be where I was or where everyone else has progressed to, but I can either go back and pick up where I am at or stop playing. For me, the choice is easy – I will return back with the realization I will not be where I was, nor will I be where I had hoped to be by this point, but I am in exactly the place I am in.

You have to stay focused on what you want and what is important to you. At my age, I know there are people who would not be motivated to pick up where they left off, but this is my life. Working out and playing sport is a huge part of my life. I won’t be giving that up anytime soon. And neither should you.

Do the ‘right’ things

Working through an injury is also about doing the right things during recovery. It is critical to follow the doctor’s protocol and not go back into your normal routine too fast or too soon. It’s so tempting to come back too soon, particularly if you are having a day when you feel on top of the world. You have to preview what might happen if you don’t follow protocol. One thing that could happen is that you extend your recovery time or make the injury worse.

People know me as the rule follower. Whatever the doctor says, I do. Unfortunately, while I did a pretty good job throughout this injury, I didn’t do a great job of it. The doc said to stay off my feet for 6-8 weeks but didn’t. I tried to stay off my foot as much as possible, but it wasn’t as much as I should have. Crutches were painful. I also tried the leg-up, but it was taking forever to get around. So, I gave up the contraptions for convenience during weeks 3, 4, and 5 and I am paying for it now. Hence, the X-rays today. ☹

However, I did start cycling when the doctor said it was OK and I’ve been cycling at a lower resistance and cadence, and for short periods of time. I’ve found myself in the bottom 1/3 of a Peloton class when normally I am in the top 5% of a class. It’s challenging but I am doing it.
And you can too.

The key word is realization – know that you will not be where you were, accept it, and then make a plan to get to where you want to be.

Injury is not just physical. It’s mental. If you want to come out on the other side of an injury, these are some important considerations. While I’ve done a good job with most, others have been quite challenging. It should be challenging but that’s also what makes it interesting, humbling, and a growth experience. I am still in it, working my way through it.