Maintain mindfulness while recovering from injury
I am injured. And I have been for a while. In the grand scheme of things, it’s been a short amount of actual time, but for someone like me, someone who trains in some way six to seven days a week, it seems quite long, indeed.
My injury(injuries) began in mid-July (now it's early October) with a strained right calf caused by running. The calf issue has been a bit recurring and is a known quantity. A little (or a lot) of rest and the usual rehab protocols would have me back in action relatively quickly if the second, more traumatic event had not occurred. On my way to work, I crashed my scooter hard on my right side, breaking my elbow and several ribs. The elbow would require surgery. By the way, I’m right-handed…
That’s when things got intense. After the surgery, I was required to be in a splint for two weeks. The surgeon gave me the green light to begin walking as soon as possible, but the rib pain was so intense that even a small amount of walking proved to be too painful. As someone who usually runs five days a week and strength trains three, being told I’d be able to do neither of those for six weeks, on top of being previously sidelined by the calf injury that prevented running (or meaningful walking, for that matter), my downtime was proving to be prolonged. This was going to get weird. My mental health was going to suffer.
Exercise has always been a source of therapy for me. Running, specifically, is an integral part of my mental health regimen. Runner’s high is real, folks. It’s not simply the sense of accomplishment from exercising that puts a spring in one’s step. It’s chemical. I’ve been subsisting on those chemicals for decades, since my days as a competitive athlete. This is not to mention the rhythm of running provides an opportunity to explore one’s thoughts and emotions in a way that is rarely achieved otherwise, for me anyway. I’ve solved many problems, figured out business issues, and had my best ideas whilst running. Running is my happy place, and running would be off the table for at least another six weeks. What was I to do to maintain my mental health?
When my partner Arrica was driving me to the ER immediately after my crash (sparing gruesome detail, I knew it would be gnarly), I told her that my biggest fear wasn’t the physical- I knew my bones would heal. She knew exactly what I meant. I had to plan a mental health strategy that would see me through the lengthy healing process, one that didn’t have physical exercise as a cornerstone.
In simple terms, for an athlete (ex-athlete in my case), or any active person, really, being injured amounts to not being able to live one’s life as he/she wants directly as the result of physical limitation. Often this results in a loss of identity, even if only in the short term. It can also lead to anxiety and depression. It’s easy to get mired in the depths of the loss associated with the injury- from the social aspect of exercise to the actual loss of fitness that will inevitably occur. And for me, it’s the loss of arguably the most grounding, an important part of my day. This is where having a mindfulness routine comes in. Daily practice has proven invaluable to me in coping with all the factors associated with my injuries.
The actual mindfulness strategies are outside the scope of this missive. The important takeaway is that injuries don’t have to be a mental health nightmare for active people. Having a daily mindfulness practice can stave off many of the non-physical issues that are often linked to the healing process with injuries. Here are some resources to get started or to augment your current practice.
Have fun, stay healthy, eat great food, and exercise!
Recommend additional reads: