by Domenic Nasso, ESSA accredited Exercise Physiologist
If you are struggling with an injury and the rehabilitation process seems long and difficult, and like you’re getting nowhere fast, it can be incredibly frustrating.
Before you give up hope and accept the fact that you’re never going to live pain free or succumb to the idea that your injuries will never heal and it’s all just too hard, ask your self this:
Am I doing enough?
Are you seriously putting in enough effort and time into your rehabilitation? If you are not making headway, I have a feeling the answer will be no.
If you are not sure what you can and should be doing to “get better” then ask your health professional. If they cannot give you the tools and the knowledge required then it may be time to look elsewhere.
Now comes the hard part: the doing! If you are completing your rehab exercises once a day and stretching for ten minutes every other day you are probably dedicating 2-3 hours a week max, to “getting better”. If you are getting 8 hours sleep each night, then the 2-3hours works out to be 2.7% of your waking week.
If you dedicated just 2.7% of your time to anything you wanted to achieve, you would not be shocked not to see any positive results or improvement!
Before you say it, yes you can over train, over stretch and overdo it, but if this speaks to you I highly doubt you are in any danger of overdoing it.
So before you give in, or believe that your health professional and care team just cannot help you, I ask you to revisit your commitment level. No, injuries are rarely fair. However, there is a hugely improved quality of life waiting for you if you place your rehabilitation higher up on your to-do list.
