In fall 2008, I had an ache in the outside of my left forearm. I worked through it and tried to ignore it. This became lateral elbow tendinitis that lasted four months and involved a bunch of trips to the physical therapist. The PT massaged the arm and worked the shoulder mobility and other things, and made it feel great by the time I left his office. He gave me exercises to do, which I did, but not as often as I was supposed to. The main thing the therapist did for me was get it through my head what it means to rest a body part that is hurting. Don’t worry about being assymetrical with exercises then. Do them on the pain-free side, and don’t do them on the side that hurts. Don’t test it to see if today it might not hurt any more.
More recently I had an aching shoulder because I did too many sets of overhead squats in one session and went too heavy. I wasn’t doing overhead squats often enough to be as ambitious as I was that day. I was competing with somebody else… you know how that goes. My shoulder hurt for three days, to the point of waking me up at night when I rolled over. I stopped using that arm overhead and for carrying things. Another three days went by with little to no pain, and after a few more days it felt normal. Whew–no chronic problem, no therapist.
Someone in the gym asked me how I cope with injuries, since I usually demonstrate all the exercises we’re doing, and warm up with the group. The answer, now that I learned my lesson, is: REST IT. No exceptions. If ice helps, ice it. (Tom is especially good about icing his aches.) In class, I choose to explain that I have a pain and won’t be doing some of the things the class does. Making that statement lets me take the pressure off myself to demonstrate everything, and to get somebody else to do it. (Besides, coaching without being able to demonstrate is an opportunity to become a better coach.) Other important injury-handling disciplines: take extra fish oil, get good sleep and enough of it, and stay off the foods that are inflammatory either through the way they spike up your insulin (sugars and starches) or because of antinutrients they contain (grains and omega-6 oils). Coping with an injury–something no one wants to do–is a discipline just like working out when you don’t feel like it is a discipline.
Remember: a new pain can turn into a nagging, long-lasting, or serious injury if you ignore it and keep working through it. If you lay off, on the other hand, it will be frustrating, but only for a short time. If you let that ache take its time to go away, the layoff won’t seem very long in hindsight. I didn’t work out hard for a week with the shoulder ache. Big deal. Now if I choose to work on overhead squats in the next couple of weeks, I’ll add weight very slowly and only do a few sets. After a few months of that, I will be stronger. If I had tried to ignore the shoulder pain, it would still be with me and might have turned into something chronic. Rest your aches!
