My recent running injury has given me cause to reflect on the importance of being an active participant in your own rehabilitation. As an OT and rehabilitation consultant, I assist clients on a daily basis as they navigate their rehabilitation journey. A big element of this is ensuring clients are participating in appropriate treatment and engaging with rehabilitation activities.
My experience has given me the opportunity to have the “shoe on the other foot” for want of a better term. What my own injury experience has reinforced for me is the importance of having a clear and meaningful goal for what you want to achieve from your rehabilitation and if not more importantly a clear understanding of what it would mean for you if didn’t achieve that goal.
Without this, there is no point, no motivation, no why. For me, my rehabilitation goal has been to be able to run better than I have before (unrestricted and without pain). This has been the driving force behind each and every rehab session and following the imposed restrictions (which for me has meant going from running five times per week to zero)!
This has not been easy. I have been tempted but knowing that I would likely delay my recovery well and truly put a halt on this. When my physiotherapist first told me I would have to cut back on the distance I was running – I told him straight off the bat that I couldn’t do that because I was training for an event. But I had to because I couldn’t run at all, let alone walk without aggravating the pain. I had to accept the reality that I was going to miss an event that I had been training so hard for, but in making this acceptance I knew that once I fully recovered there would be so much more I would be able to achieve.
I have learnt the importance (through my own stupidity) of taking early action before one small issue becomes multiple issues (as in my case) or one big issue. I know now I should have done something earlier but instead I made things worse. I did this to myself. Lesson well learnt.
The other thing I have had to do is relinquish some aspect of control. I have had to put my trust in my physiotherapist and believe that if I implemented what I was told I would get the outcome I was working for. There are no guarantees or quick fixes; you have to do the work.
The one thing I did have control over was doing my rehabilitation exercises and stretches. I have done these religiously, three times per day, each and every day for almost the past month. I won’t lie; it has been hard some days to fit this in but I have always done them. Whether I was standing at the bus stop, waiting on the train platform, sitting in a presentation or even standing on the tram. The fact is if the end goal is worth it, you can always find the time. It might be boring to keep doing the same exercises or activities but it works. #noexcuses
All too often I have seen and heard from my own clients, behaviours ranging from self-sabotage, to excuses of it being too cold, not enough time, it's boring, it hurts, the list goes on! Again this all comes back to - what do you want to achieve from doing this rehab – what is your motivation, what is your end goal and what does it mean to you (or in some cases what would it mean if you didn’t achieve this goal). If you have this at the centre of everything you do, it all becomes easier.
What it all boils down to is there are no excuses. If you want something to change, take action, do the work, get support and slay those excuses.
Here's to your work health wellness.
P.S. I ran for the first time in four weeks yesterday. It was hard but I did it. And you want to know the best bit is - I ran pain free and without restriction!
P.P.S. If you are sick and tired of the excuses and are ready for change, you need to talk to me. Get your FREE consult by contacting me via email at info@occupationalfocus.com.au
There is no excuse for not doing some form of excercise I will agree with that, however a running injury is vastly different to a workplace injury.
To start with a running injury means that the runner needs to have a workplace that is flexible enough to accomadate a sporting injury- that would depend entirely on the workplace and the type of work that is done- for instance a desk bound job would have little impact on a sports injury, however a check out operator or factory worker may find that they could not return to work until the sporting injury was under control.
A workplace injury is covered by State or National legislation, the restrictions and the guidelines of the legislation comes into place.
That combined with the need to have a workplace injury accepted as a claim and then have the medical guidelines in place and the gym/excercise/hydro plan in a controlled environment and paid for all takes many many weeks.
So whilst on the surface I agree it is important to excercise, dig a tad under the surface and you will discover that ease of ability does not match the glossy advertising.
Thank you for your comment Rosemary. This piece was written in the context of my own personal experience of undertaking my rehabilitation activities which involved a home based exercises and stretching program. I agree that dealing with a workplace or transport accident injury or other illness is different. This piece is not about RTW or approvals or the like and I can agree that these can hold up the rehab process for an individual in a compensable system. However, what the piece is about is the doing of the rehab. This is the one area that a person with an injury, no matter how it comes about, has control over, how they choose to approach their rehab to facilitate achievement of the desired goals.