#405 Recover. Don’t Rot. - DOC

#405 Recover. Don’t Rot.

Today on the Doc on the Run Podcast, we’re talking about how to make sure you recover and don’t rot when you have a running injury.

Now, this episode actually comes from a discussion I had recently with someone during a telemedicine visit and she was asking me what to do, given her current circumstances and the fact that she seems to feel like she’s getting frustrated, she gets better, she’s had a couple of different injuries, and when she actually gets back to running, she seems to have a tendency to get re-injured now.

I hate to tell you this, but this is a very, very, very common scenario. So all of the things that you have to think about when you’re injured shouldn’t focus on the injury, they should focus on your recovery. All living systems are either getting stronger or weaker. There is no in-between. You’re never actually just staying the same. You’re either getting more fit or less fit day by day. And so you have to make sure that when you get injured, you don’t rot. You have to make sure that your recovery is focused on actually improving the parts of you that you can improve without making the injury worse.

That is really the big key with running injuries. It’s just to make sure that you don’t just sit and wait, because if somebody tells you, you just have to rest, I believe you have to rest that one injured part, but you do not have to rest everything. In fact, doing so is a recipe for rot. You are going to deteriorate. You’re going to get worse. You are actually going to get weaker and stiffer. You’re going to lose your neuromuscular connections. Your balance is going to be terrible.

And then when you actually go back to running, you’re going to be more likely to get re-injured. So you’ve got to make sure that when you get injured, you’re trying to do everything that you can, everything in your power to actually maintain all of your fitness without making your injury worse. That’s the long and the short of it. If you pay attention and you really focus on what you can do, you can make big strides and it will keep you in a much better place mentally as you recover. So remember, just make sure you recover, don’t rot.

 

Go to https://www.docontherun.com/fasttrack/ and grab your seat now. I’ll see you in the training.