The psychology of coming back from an injury

[Aishine]

Hi, I love this thread. I saw your aerial avatar and want to connect with other aerialists here, but then this thread is so helpful too! I'm in the middle of recovering from an injury (after 6 weeks finally think the root cause is found - two rib subluxations) and I've been feeling more and more down as each week passes and I do less exercise because of the pain. I'm pretty sure the chiropractic from yesterday is a turning point, and I'm hopeful, but I can't wait for the pain to be gone completely and I can start building my strength again!

 

But what I've learned from reading about all of your posts about your journeys back from injury is to be patient, and honor my body's healing timeline, rather than force my mental/emotional timeline on it. Phew. Okay. Thank you!

[jjhatch]

So this thread may be over a month old, but if you read my story on the first page... well, it didn't end there. At the end of July I ended up BACK in the hospital due to having pericarditis (inflammation of the sac that surrounds the heart). When it started, I had two days off from work so the first day I ran (as usual). That afternoon I felt a pain in my left side. I didn't really think much of it, it felt like a pulled muscle. It still hurt on Friday... But on Saturday, when I went back to work, it got MUCH worse. I work in retail so I'm moving around a lot, and that just made it worse. The pain spread to my back, and even up to my shoulder, neck, and jaw. So I left work early and went to an urgent care clinic, they did an EKG and told me that since they can't do blood cultures that I should go to the ER.

 

Well, I got there and they ran some tests and found out I had pericarditis (even the ER doctor was surprised, which is never a good thing). I ended up staying in the hospital for about 4 days while they monitored me and gave me lots of anti-inflammatories. After I was discharged they told me no work for a week, no lifting more than 20 lbs for 2 weeks. As for the cause of the pericarditis, the doctor said it happens after open heart surgery, but it's rare for it to happen 6 months later (as in my case), but it's not out of the question.

 

Well, after all that was over with, I really struggled getting back to exercising. I eventually realized that I had a fear of running. It was pretty silly, but because I was running when I got endocarditis AND pericarditis, my mind just connected the dots (even though the doctors told me that running did not cause/exacerbate any of it).

 

That was over a month ago since I was discharged, and I'm just now getting back into exercising regularly. Took me awhile to get over this slump, and while I'm not completely recovered mentally I'm getting there. I decided to just go back to doing c25k again, as I find that having an actual plan really helps with sticking to exercising regularly.

[fauve]

New here and on a plateau trying to come back after an injury.  SOOOOOOO glad to read through these posts. It's exactly what I needed!

[kelidd]

Reading a lot of these stories really resonate with me and my history with injuries.

 

A little bit about me . Back before 2004 i have a pretty active person in all of my off time i would hit the gym or do a lot of hiking wherever i could find in the region, then i was hit by a car as a pedestrian and ended up needing multiple surgeries on my right leg and knee. during the 18 month or so downtime i had i was still eating like i was super active and ended up gaining a ton of weight (100 lbs or more). i end up moving to a different region of the country and got busy with work not realizing exactly how much i had gained or what i looked like. in march 2011 i ended up blowing out my right shoulder and needing surgery. during rehab pre op i started to realize how much i have lost and gained. started changing my eating habits and exercising more. from 2011 to march of 2013 i went from 350lbs down to 280. in march of this year i ended up injuring my left shoulder and i have had surgery on it once and from the looks of it i will end up having surgery on it again. In the past when i was hurt i just gave up and ended wallowing in my helplessness. it is a hard path to come back from injury and it does take it's mental toll, but the best i have found is to work around it and not give up keep pushing what you can do.