Just like getting a flat tire while driving down the highway, injuries can happen when you least expect them. Unexpected injuries hurt, decrease our strength, and serve as a inconvenient distraction in our everyday activities. Being sidelined due to injury is discouraging as well. Injuries can occur anywhere from poor posture while sitting, unexpected accidents or falls, and overuse from recreational activities. Sometimes we’ll hear people say, “I’m hurt. This is just the way it is and I have to live with it.” This explanation is congruent with throwing your hands up in the air when you can’t solve a frustrating problem and just walking away. If there’s anything that ruffles my feathers is the phrase, “You just have to live with it.” If you just bought a brand-new Ferrari and got a flat tire on I-5 in the middle of Taft County, would you just throw your hands up in the air and walk away? That $200K investment would sit on the side of the dusty road. The car would hang out with the cows and tumbleweed. Seems like a waste of time and money to me. If we just “live with pain” and say, “that’s just how it is,” we might as well collect dust next to that Ferrari on I-5 with the flat tire. Why let that Ferrari go to waste? Why let your body go to waste because of the distraction of pain from an injury? Fortunately, the human body can be fixed. Just like a Ferrari with a flat tire stranded on I-5 next to Button Willow, CA. The key is patience, trust and will power.
If we get a flat tire in the middle of nowhere and we don’t know how to replace it with a spare, the first resource available is to dig the car manual out of the glove compartment and read up on how to replace the tire. Perhaps a quick web search via Google or a YouTube instructional video could offer pointers on how to accomplish such a task. This example is similar to one of the first steps to intervening an injury from getting worse or keeping us limited in our physical activities for too long. When we’re hurt, we have a plethora of research around us. Have a case of golfer’s elbow? Research it. Look up the source of the injury, how it was caused, what you could do to alleviate the symptoms. While the internet doesn’t have all the answers, we can at least learn more about our specific ailments limiting our physical activity. Conducting research is a productive first step in discovering what tactics to prioritize to put us on a road to recovery.
A more direct solution to getting the tire fixed in our Ferrari stranded on I-5 while the cows gawk at us, would be to call a tow truck or specialist, like AAA. If we can’t find the solution through a car manual or an internet search, perhaps we should consult with a pro. As an exercise physiologist and lifelong gym rat, I struggle with mechanical repairs. Therefore, with an activity that would take me 2 hours to figure out, the AAA representative can switch out tires in about 5 minutes. I’d much rather utilize his skills as resource than going into a cave of frustration. Just like a AAA representative could switch out a tire in record time, a physical therapist can narrow down the source of injury and design a rehab routine faster than us. Physical therapists specialize in identifying injuries and understanding what exacerbates injuries and how to expedite healing. So, if your hurt, seek out a specialist. A brief phone call to an injury rehab specialist is far superior to “just living with it.”
More importantly, the most useful intervention to an injury is to keep moving. Injuries can debilitate, slow down, and ultimately emotionally depress us. Humans are blessed with the ability to move forward. If the upper body is hurt, walk, hike, and perform resistance training on the lower extremities. If a part of the lower body is injured, do some pushups and planks. By keeping the body moving while another area is temporarily in the repair shop, the mind will still progress. By maintaining a form of physical activity during an injury, we can provide a happy, healthy, and strong environment not only for our friends and family, but most importantly ourselves.
We can’t let injuries put us on the sideline and just leave them untreated. Just like the $200K Ferrari parked on I-5 with a flat tire, we’ll just sit around and collect dust if we don’t keep moving forward to fix the injury. Intervene and positively influence the recovery from injuries by continuing to research, seek out professional guidance, and continue to move.
Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.
