Injury - How do you deal with it?

by Tom
(Long Island, NY)

If you are active and routinely train, chances are you are going to have to deal with Injury at some point. Sincerely hope all of you successfully avoid it, but the odds are that in some cases, all of our preventative measures (hydration, core training, stretching, rest) won't be enough.

I'm just coming off an ankle/foot injury. If you are a runner, like myself you know how this affects your well-being and state of mind. Not only do you have to deal with the injury itself, but also the stress, and anxiety that come along for the ride.

In the past, I've not dealt with this optimally, but trying to change all that. The smart thing to do is to listen to your body. Trust your instinct. Often times, we may be able to detect telltale signs that something is wrong. It is at times such as these, where you should listen and hold off. Ignoring these can lead to no good. I'm not saying that we should not push ourselves, but we should do so smartly and in an informed manner.

On dealing with my recent injury, I held off (although not at first, stupidly), applied RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation), and compensated by focusing on my swimming, indoor cycling on the trainer, & Strength training.

As the pain did not go away right away, I did something I usually avoid...went to the Doctor for some X-rays. Thankfully, found that I had no stress fractures, so I was able to re-start my running..but smartly and gradually, in due time. If I did, have stress fractures, restarting too soon, would have set me back way too far and would have affected my future A races for the year.

Hope everyone trains Injury Free...Be safe and have fun!