Athlete knocked DOWN by injuries: advice on mindset

purplefizzy

Hi MFP friends.

A little background:
I was a competitive athlete and trainer years ago. Got left of center for a while (excuses included major life changes, etc) and reclaimed my athlete status mentally and physically a few years ago.
Dropped the weight, resumed training like a ninja, found myself again.
Fast forward a few years, and training (perhaps overtraining) for the NFEC 50K on a bad hamstring. Eventually fully ruptured the conjoined tendon - an unusual surgery and serious mobility restrictions.
As the universe sometimes does, it chose to reinforce the lesson. I also have a compressed nerve in the neck causing weakness in shoulder>tricep>elbow.

I’m working with a team of medical professionals and I understand that this is a long process. I can expect to start PT soon, and to spend 10 weeks relearning proper gait training (how to walk) and begin slow stretching. My hope is to return to running a year post surgery.

My question is this:
Considering I have limited lower body mobility and nerve pain that also requires rest, how do I maintain sanity and identification as an athlete?

Like so many of us, I use exercise to regulate mood, buy more room for kCals, and give me a feeling of strength and power. It’s my happy. It’s my core coping mechanism.

I’m reaching out to friends, trying to remember what things people do that don’t involve movement.

Trying to see the opportunities in this; more time to study the various ‘everything’ I’m interested in, to meditate, to ask for help. To get vulnerable.

My body is changing in a way I find scary: softer, less lean, less strong. I’m scared to spiral back into the unhealthy self I had let become my ‘normal’ for a while.

My nutrition is exceptionally focused on healing, Whole Foods. I cook almost everything from actual ingredients (sometimes I cheat and use pre-made cashew milk.) well sourced meats, vegetables, nuts. My weakness is apples- in this time of complete immobilization, it’s hard to reduce my intake to match my newly reduced kCal needs. Also, I know my body needs the good stuff to heal. Greens, collagen, protein, healthy fats.

My brain still wants to eat like an active athlete: portions for a sedentary body feel paltry and sad.

How do I wrap my brain around my new intake needs, remove the sadness from it, and fuel appropriately to heal but not in excess?

Any experience appreciated.

My thoughts so far have been to try to use this as an opportunity to get used to smaller portions (and as someone used to eating to fuel ultra endurance activities and multiple daily workouts, this is really hard.)
Meditation is helping. So is journaling, and surrounding myself with images of my favorite outdoor hikes and runs- because I will be back!!

Im also looking to try to use this as a time to challenge myself to cook lighter but still vital and nourishing meals. Sitting on my *kitten* means maybe NOT topping my soup with avocado and nuts, but instead choosing one.

I’m also trying to give myself some grace around the weight gain, and know that a few pounds up from my competition weight doesn’t mean I’ll slide back to my inactive, in-n-out eating years.

Advice, perspective, input, recipes, mindset tips- all appreciated.

spiriteagle99

When I had a pelvic stress fracture and couldn't run, I got seriously depressed. I decided that in a situation in which I had limited control (healing time) I would focus on something I did have control over: my diet. Like you, I focused on eating healthy and limiting portion size. I lost 10 pounds. I asked the doctor what exercise I could do and was told I could do exercise bike, so I did that as often as I could. It took seven months before I was healed enough to start over. I knew from an online group on RW that I was actually lucky, since some of the people in that group had been unable to run for two years or more. Looking ahead the time seemed interminable, but it actually passed fairly quickly. I did projects that didn't involve moving a lot and that helped. It was a hard summer, but eventually I healed enough to go back to running. I had some setbacks in the following year, but two years after my injury, I was racing again and three years later I ran my first marathon.

Duck_Puddle

I went through a string of a series of significant injuries in a relatively short period of time. All of mine were recoverable but I still ended up quite depressed and also developed a fear of reinjury that prevented me from returning to activity.

I went to therapy for the whole kit and kaboodle. And while I did recover and have returned to a “normal” activity level, subsequent injuries have been less emotionally impactful.

I highly recommend therapy-with someone with experience in sports psychology if you can find them-to help you sort this all out. It’s a huge identify shift and loss of the very mechanisms we use TO cope makes it really difficult to handle alone.

I wish you the best.

PAV8888

No advice on the athlete status and self identification and mood from me

But as someone who has "reduced" his portions some thoughts.

Healthy and healing foods good. But calories really do count.

Soup probably gets neither avocado nor nuts as a regular topping. Once you weigh either and look at the calories I suspect you will become much more deliberate in their use.

Apples on the other hand tend to be quite satiating for their calories for many people (same as plain potatoes) so you may be on to something there when using them as snacks.

Calories are a function of ingredients and quantity.

You can tackle either end first (maintain volume change ingredients or reduce volume maintain ingredients) or you can do a little bit of both.

You can also, probably, especially if working with a support team, come up with some mobility constrained exercise regiment that won't affect your injury?!?!?

In terms of "need", you probably "need" around 0.35g of fat per lb of body weight within the normal weight range. 20% of calories from fat for women of reproductive age is a common recommendation.

As a healing (higher need) non exercising (lower to neutral need) not in a deficit (lower need) person you can probably stay at the MFP commonly suggested ~2x RDA of protein by getting 0.6 to 0.8g of protein per lb of body weight within the normal weight range (0.8g to 1g per lb of lean mass). And, of course, your ~26g or more of fiber!

Once you calculate these minimums and see what a carefully weighed on a food scale week of home cooked foods yields you may find some "easy" substitutions or omissions in your cooking to lower your calories.

During the year before I joined MFP I bought 5 bottles of virgin olive oil.

It is now 4 years later. I am on my second bottle... but only because I threw out half of my first one due to it being in use for more than 3 years...

More than you ever wanted to know about fats can be found from here:

http://www.fao.org/ag/humannutrition/nutrition/63162/en/

Phirrgus

For what it's worth - I'll list my "qualifications" if you ask - keeping a mindset that is other people centered will cover a multitude of issues. There is always going to be someone who has been through, and worked through something worse, always.

That does not minimize your concerns, not at all, but being focused on helping other people less fortunate than yourself...the benefits are awesome and could go a long way towards helping you find what you need.

I understand that may not be what you're looking for OP, and wish you all the best.

SCoil123

I’ve had multiple knee injuries on my journey. I have a partially detached MCL on my left knee and in the past three years have injured my right twice, meniscus tear and then a tibia plateau fracture a year later. Each injury left me unable to bear weight for weeks at a time. I have arthritis in both knees now, per MRI, but am active again and ran this morning. I will never be able to run long distance though or do a lot of jumping high impact activities. If I run more than 4 miles at a time my knees swell like grapefruits and walking becomes painful so I limit myself to 5ks with the occasional slow 4mile jog.

What I did to get through it -
1. Studied nutrition while I was down and primarily focused on my intake.
2. Found a few seated workouts with dumbbells online so I could still keep exercising as a part of my regular routine. Having something I could do stopped me from dwelling on what I couldn’t.
3. Worked with PT as soon as I was cleared to start increasing activity again in a safe way

Having a plan that I could build on kept me focused on the recovery part of my journey

Theoldguy1

Lots of good suggestions. I've been laid up at various times with 8 upper body orthopedic surgeries and a case of sepsis that left me so weak I had to use a walker for a month.

When I started PT I asked the professional what else I could safely do. I took my list of PT activities to the gym. Personally I found that doing my rehab around others with weights banging and music going, I felt a lot better than doing the same stuff in my family room.

Best of luck.

Maxxitt

Married to an athlete who's been knocked down for months and months at a time recovering from injuries over the years. As a person with incredible focus, which helps him with basketball but could be a detriment when turned on thoughts of "what I can't do," he threw himself whole heartedly into his PT, and worked his upper body 4 times a week with the same focus when surgery on achilles, or knee/hammy issues limited lower, and vice versa. He's always come back, which is ridiculous given, now, his age and the amount of crap his body has been through (including cancer). You can do it.

purplefizzy

Thank you, all, for incredibly insightful responses.

I do need to tighten back up on the food scale; and to work to find what I CAN do. Service is a Huge part of my life so it’s a great reminder to turn outward and find other ways to feel good.

I appreciate the hope and experience you shared.

AnnPT77

purplefizzy wrote: »

Hi MFP friends.

<snip background>

My question is this:
Considering I have limited lower body mobility and nerve pain that also requires rest, how do I maintain sanity and identification as an athlete?

Like so many of us, I use exercise to regulate mood, buy more room for kCals, and give me a feeling of strength and power. It’s my happy. It’s my core coping mechanism.

Have you considered some kind of coaching or personal training certification related to your sport(s) as a way to maintain idenfication with that, and sustain some of your athletic identity in a different way?

Coaching certification in my sport (rowing) was all about book learning and/or observation of coaches, not physical performance or energetic activity. A lot of it covered things I already knew, but not all, and it was a deepening kind of experience.

I’m reaching out to friends, trying to remember what things people do that don’t involve movement.

Trying to see the opportunities in this; more time to study the various ‘everything’ I’m interested in, to meditate, to ask for help. To get vulnerable.

Meditation and reachin out sound good. Later, you mention journaling, also good.

How about taking a risk, and using this "opportunity" to learn something completely different: A craft, a visual art, a musical instrument, etc.?

My body is changing in a way I find scary: softer, less lean, less strong. I’m scared to spiral back into the unhealthy self I had let become my ‘normal’ for a while.

My nutrition is exceptionally focused on healing, Whole Foods. I cook almost everything from actual ingredients (sometimes I cheat and use pre-made cashew milk.) well sourced meats, vegetables, nuts. My weakness is apples- in this time of complete immobilization, it’s hard to reduce my intake to match my newly reduced kCal needs. Also, I know my body needs the good stuff to heal. Greens, collagen, protein, healthy fats.

My brain still wants to eat like an active athlete: portions for a sedentary body feel paltry and sad.

How do I wrap my brain around my new intake needs, remove the sadness from it, and fuel appropriately to heal but not in excess?

Any experience appreciated.

Speaking as someone who's somewhat more satiated by volume, would looking at your eating in that light help? There's a whole thread in the Food area of the forum, perennially active, aimed at volume eaters.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10563959/volume-eaters-thread

(Some of this will not appeal to you; but perhaps some will.)

My thoughts so far have been to try to use this as an opportunity to get used to smaller portions (and as someone used to eating to fuel ultra endurance activities and multiple daily workouts, this is really hard.)
Meditation is helping. So is journaling, and surrounding myself with images of my favorite outdoor hikes and runs- because I will be back!!

Im also looking to try to use this as a time to challenge myself to cook lighter but still vital and nourishing meals. Sitting on my *kitten* means maybe NOT topping my soup with avocado and nuts, but instead choosing one.

I’m also trying to give myself some grace around the weight gain, and know that a few pounds up from my competition weight doesn’t mean I’ll slide back to my inactive, in-n-out eating years.

Advice, perspective, input, recipes, mindset tips- all appreciated.

Wishing you speedy healing, but also that your current constraints may help open up new avenues that enrich your life long-term. :flowerforyou:

aokoye

purplefizzy wrote: »

Hi MFP friends.

A little background:
I was a competitive athlete and trainer years ago. Got left of center for a while (excuses included major life changes, etc) and reclaimed my athlete status mentally and physically a few years ago.
Dropped the weight, resumed training like a ninja, found myself again.
Fast forward a few years, and training (perhaps overtraining) for the NFEC 50K on a bad hamstring. Eventually fully ruptured the conjoined tendon - an unusual surgery and serious mobility restrictions.
As the universe sometimes does, it chose to reinforce the lesson. I also have a compressed nerve in the neck causing weakness in shoulder>tricep>elbow.

I’m working with a team of medical professionals and I understand that this is a long process. I can expect to start PT soon, and to spend 10 weeks relearning proper gait training (how to walk) and begin slow stretching. My hope is to return to running a year post surgery.

My question is this:
Considering I have limited lower body mobility and nerve pain that also requires rest, how do I maintain sanity and identification as an athlete?

Like so many of us, I use exercise to regulate mood, buy more room for kCals, and give me a feeling of strength and power. It’s my happy. It’s my core coping mechanism.

For background, I have had four major knee surgeries (two per knee) that have involved a total of 6 months of being non-weight bearing on the surgical side and very lengthy recovery times. The first surgery occurred when I was in the midst of doing base training for the upcoming cycling season.

1. I think it's really important to realize that athletes get injuries and often have to recover in really deliberate ways from those surgeries. After my first surgery (or my second?) I had the opportunity to ask Tyler Farrar in person about his experiences with recovering from injury. His response was essentially that you can't push yourself past your limit. That, of course, is really hard if you don't know where your limit is (having had so many surgeries, I know where mine is). Essentially, I seek solace in knowing that other athletes are or have been going through the same thing and try to read or listen to their struggles and triumphs. I think with my last surgery I was thinking about how much work J.R. Celski did to come back from his very major injury (the really awful thigh injury).

2. Do all of your physical therapy and do it well. Do it as if your life depends on it (while also not pushing yourself too hard). When I was non-weight bearing in the winter of 2017/2018, I did more PT than was expected of a typical patient. I didn't do anything other than the exercises that were given to me, but I did a lot of them. I was also bored out of my mind so there is that. I ended up doing so much that various phases of my PT were shortened because I had exceeded the goals so quickly (the phases were dictated by how many weeks post-op I was as well as by functional goals, with time being more important at first). And again back to the identifying as an athlete thing - my PT treated me as if I was an athlete and referred to me as such (she and my ortho have treated a number of athletes, including elite and professional ones).

3. Find another coping mechanism. I was already in therapy for a whole host of reasons and I'm not that great day to day at finding coping mechanisms that work for me (reasons why I'm in therapy...). That said, pick up a new hobby that isn't physical. You will probably get injured again and even if by some stroke of luck you don't, having a variety of coping mechanisms (and hobbies) is a good thing.

Good luck! Feel free to message me if you want me to clarify anything. I know what it's like not being allowed to walk bipedally for extended periods of time - and dealing with the atrophy that comes with that, not being allowed to run (mind you I wasn't a runner, but it was a goal) until months after my surgery (we half thought I wouldn't get there), and being seriously curtailed because of very major surgeries.

debrakgoogins

It's hard. It's frustrating. It just requires a different mindset. Set small goals and work toward those. One at a time, as you achieve a goal, build a new bigger goal. You might not be the same athlete you were but you'll find new activities and find a happy place again.

I've told my story a few times here but I will share it and hope it gives you some insight. I used to be a martial artist. I was healthy, strong, thin and happy. One day, I slipped on my basement stairs carrying a basket of laundry and broke my pelvis and tailbone, dislocated my sacral joint, and tore all the muscles in my pelvic floor. Every time thought I was making progress, something else relating to my accident would happen. 11 years and 27 surgeries later I was 90 pounds heavier with very limited mobility. I had continued to eat like an athlete without the activity.

I started by swimming because that was something I could do without pain. As my cardio vascular health began to improve and my joints slowly strengthened, I added walking. Then, I added yoga. Yoga helped me get some flexibility and balance back. I added body weight exercises. I eventually added weights. I dropped 50 pounds and felt healthy again. I was back on track. Then, I developed a frozen shoulder. One year of rehab and one surgery later, I started over. Now, here I am. I lift weights. I do yoga. I do kickboxing and Jiu Jitsu. My competition is no longer against others but against myself. A new PR on bench press, a faster 5k - those things push me to be better now. I set a goal and when I achieve it, I set a new one. Eating was the hardest part. I found for me, having some protein and fats with each meal kept me fuller longer. I experimented with different foods until I found what worked. You can do that to - it just may take some time.

Don't give up. Do what you can and reward yourself when you reach mini goals. You've got this!

HoneyBadger302

Not sure if I have the best advice as I may not have handled my worst injury (in terms of longer term consequences) as well as some others, but I'll share my story.

I've had plenty of injuries in the past, but most of them laid me up for a matter of weeks, not months on end with ongoing issues. Most self-described athletes are used to working through a number of injuries over time, and we kind of get used to this idea of being able to power through things at some point.
~~~~~~~
2016 was a great year for me. It was my second full season racing as a novice. I was getting crazy fit, my racing was going extremely well, and by the end of the year I was outriding my bike and ready to look into buying a new, fancy bike. My finances (after a divorce a few years prior) were in place to also make that happen. Decided to move up to expert, ordered my brand spanking new bike, and was ready to go kick some *kitten* in 2017 with lots of training and some off season training planned.

Late in 2016 (12/3/16 to be exact) I was in a dirt bike training class when another rider tried to force a bad pass, hit and crashed into me, and both bikes and humans rotated over my leg that got jammed in a rut. My leg lost. Tib/fib "Pilon" fracture, multiple fractures in both bones, end of the tibia split into multiple pieces. At first I was like, "whatever, broken leg, I'll be back at it in 6-8 weeks."

Not so much.

Turns out, this would turn into the better part of two years of recovery. I had three surgeries (two corrective, one for infected hardware) between Dec and April, and then a fourth surgery in Sept to remove all the hardware, and antibiotics (including 6 weeks of 3x/day IV antibiotics) from April through October.

Walking more than 1/2 mile was a serious challenge most of 2017. While I continued to ride, my leg was making things difficult. Add in everything else I was worried about (such as, if that infection didn't stay away, or got into the bone, I could very well lose my leg), and things weren't going anywhere. This ALSO got into my head - hey, we're competitors, right? We want to improve and do better. I wasn't.

On top of all that, I was really struggling with the bike. I came into 2018 still trying to recover from my leg, finally able to get back to the gym, but with a serious loss of a lot of my prior fitness and new limitations that were likely going to be permanent. Mentally, I was not in a great place, so I hired a coach who I thought could really help with the 6" between my ears. He did GREAT in that regard, and helped keep me from beating myself up TOO badly.

As it turns out, I also find out that my bike had a bad transmission, an issue I had been riding around/through for the better part of a year. On a bike like mine, that problem was terrifying, but I didn't realize it was the transmission (and not electronics like everyone else kept trying to blame) until 5 out of 7 races for the year were already done and gone.

At the end of 2018 I was finally getting the bike sorted out. My leg was finally predictable (still has limitations). I'm finally feeling like my expectations for the upcoming year are more in line with reality now.

Mentally, all of this made for a rough couple of years. I still don't feel 100% myself yet. Like there's still a part of me that needs some solid results to really get back into the groove, but the end of 2018 I was at least finally headed that direction with some real progress to hang my hat on. I also just got done rebuilding my transmission as a "peace of mind" project LOL.

While recovering, I kept riding as that kept me hopeful. It gave me something to focus on and do. I still instructed at our track days, and late in 2017 returned to "normal" workouts. I think having some longer term goals also helped keep me in check and kept me going for what I could do when I could. My coach did a great job on helping me as well - similar to therapy I suppose, but focused specifically on what I was doing and my sport and controlling the things I could control. Keeping me focused on the process, not the numbers. He wasn't cheap, but it was worth it.
~~~~~~~~~~
Take your time in your recovery. Keep your eye on the long term goal, and realize that taking your time will help you get there. I haven't rushed my leg (too much), and it now shows compared to some who rushed their earlier progress.

My limitations still include the fact that I will never run again. I can jog (slowly) but cannot run. I will never wear killer high heels again *sadface* Jumping is very limited, especially on landing. Squat movements are very limited. I cannot feel most of that foot (part of what caused issues riding as that's my shifting foot, so it took time to learn the muscle memory to make clean, precise shifts without being able to feel the shifter or the foot peg!).

TBH, it took me a long time to come to accept these limitation and not have it bother me on some deeper level. Now, it's been long enough, I just kind of accept them like I do my funky finger, but it's still a limitation I have to work with.

Keep your focus. Control what you can. Stay social if you can (that one, unfortunately, was very difficult for me in my situation at the time). Set goals. Then make them smaller. Then smaller still. Work towards those super baby goals and don't expect yourself to make your lofty goals. Have your lofty goals, but do NOT put timelines or expectations on WHEN they will happen (this was a big mistake of mine in 2017).

Find a good PT or coach who can help keep you focused on the baby steps, and make sure you don't lose focus of the really important aspects.

knightreader

There is a lot of good advice on this thread to the OP, so no need to repeat. My advice, based on personal experience, would be to see a therapist. 13 knee surgeries deep here. I went every other Tuesday for about 8 years. Found it very helpful. Even if we didn't speak of my lack of mobility and how that was limiting my life (because sometimes I needed a break from that) I was able to clear my mind speaking about other stuff so the knee stuff had some room up there. Best of luck!

Fflpnari

I have gotten really depressed with injuries and had 6 at one time (all from different things). I got to a point I needed something to control and go well in my life. I pulled my diet into check. Setting my calories to lose a pound a week, and making sure I ate high protein to help heal. I did PT exercises everyday. I could not lift or run, but I could use that stretchy little band.

Feel free to use this site for support. Im always happy to chat and support others!

purplefizzy

I am stunned. Blown away. The compassion and time you have all invested in sharing your experiences and thoughts with me- please know that not a single word was wasted. I am going to print these out, and put them in my post-surgery journal, and see which bits I can make my own.
I’m embarrassed to admit how distraught I’ve been. There is so much more to life, even mine, that isn’t connected to running or lifting or tromping around in my beautiful mountains. I know that. I know it would be so much harder to walk thru this without the incredible support of friends, family, and a great medical team. I’m now strongly considering going back to therapy. Thank you for helping this stranger feel seen, understood, heard. Thank you for validating that yes, this is a hard and sucky thing. And yes, I will get thru this.
Gratefully yours,
Arianna

Theoldguy1

Also, as you talk to your physical therapist go over your background and your desire to get back to past actives as soon as possible (without being stupid). Tell them you are willing to do much more than the normal rehab work (assuming you are) to get back, obviously without overdoing it. Tell him/her you want to rehab like your profession depends on. My therapists in the past have told me the typical patient doesn't adhere to the rehab schedule very well so it is typically "dummied down" to get more adherence. You may not have the time to rehab as if your profession depended on it due to actual time you have to spend with family, work, etc but the closer you can get to that the better.

shaumom

My background:
I was very active, into numerous sports. Enjoyed food a lot, even if I wasn't too fond of cooking - it's something I really enjoyed sharing with friends, especially. I dance and sing as my stress relief - cannot hear music without starting to move.

Then I got pregnant, and it triggered an auto-immune disorder. Over the next few years, I caught a local fever because of the auto-immune issues, which set off another disorder, and another (not that I knew at the time - it took a while to get it all diagnosed). At one point, I was losing one pound a day, nauseous and sick all the time, barely had the energy to move. Developed nerve pain to the point I could barely sleep, joints hurt, tendons were constantly screwed up, and then I started reacting to foods.

It got so bad I had 5 foods, plus salt, that I could eat, and everything else started making my throat close up, for nearly a year. Part way through that, I started reacting to chemical scents the same way - I'd go out in public, and if someone wearing perfume walked by, throat would start to swell, or I'd be hit with vertigo, or sudden brain fog so bad it was like I was suddenly drunk. Exercise would cause a lot of pain, but worse, as far as I was concerned, DANCING caused a lot of pain. And trying to sing made my throat swell up after one song, too.

I finally got everything diagnosed about 5 years ago. I know how to cope with the problems these ridiculous illnesses bring, and they are MUCH better now than they used to be. I can eat more food, I can do more, the pain is much, much less.

So what I'd say, from my own experiences, to you, with what you are going through.

First...Please remember it's okay to let yourself grieve. When something like this happens, when so much of what you have focused your life, emotions, identity on is cut away or damaged like this? It is a loss. and we often need to grieve when we have a loss; it's just human. It is okay to feel angry, sad, or upset. That is normal, you know? We need time to cope with losing who we were, even if it's temporary.

And grief isn't linear - you can start feeling better and then a couple weeks later something reminds you of the loss and you'll feel sad all over again, and that's okay, too. It DOES get better, but it's okay to NOT be okay, you know?

Second...it is not something anyone wants to think about, but sometimes...you will not be able to get everything back that you lost. sometimes it is lost for good. You may be able to find different ways to enjoy it - like trying to explore foods a different way. But sometimes, you can't. Sometimes you have to grieve that loss, too, and try to find something new.

It could be a hobby. It can be more connection with loved ones. Part of it is often a new perspective - you may find that what matters to you will change.

Sometimes, and this can be really hard, you will find out that the people who matter to you may be different than you thought, too, when you change. More people than I would have expected turn out to be 'friends when we can all do the same things.' But when you can no longer participate, you may lose some of those friends, but that only means that the people you have left are the ones you know you can really count on.

Personally, I sort of rediscovered my inner joy that I lost when I was a kid, at all the little but amazing things that are around me that I can enjoy. It's different for everyone, but I hope that you can get through this and be really, really happy with what you end up with. :-)

n1ckolas

I know it's been said before, but for me recovering from a serious injury was focusing on the small wins day to day.

8 months ago I shattered my L1 vertebrae along with fracturing my T6, T7, and T11. I should have been paralyzed, but with some incredible luck, I literally and figuratively walked away. I had an emergency spinal fusion the day after my accident, and I’ve been recovering ever since.

Like you, I identify as an athlete. A surfer. A snowboarder. A runner. Suddenly not being able to do this was heartbreaking. The mental toll was huge. Identifying as an athlete means you take pride in your training. You take pride in patience and perseverance in achieving new goals, PRs, etc. Channel that inner athlete in how you go through this recovery!

You didn’t just wake up one day able to run a marathon. I’m sure that took YEARS to build up to! Think back on all that time you spent eating healthy, training, stretching. As an athlete, you know that this is all part of the process, including recovery.

Through my healing and recovery, I chose to focus on small goals every day. Maybe it was only 100 steps. Maybe it was tying my own shoes again for the first time. Every little win is progress, and focusing on these small wins pushed me every day to go further, push harder. I also think it’s worth mentioning that your healing will not be linear. You will have bad days where progress feels backwards. You gotta push through those and remind yourself it’s only a bad day, and that the next day will be better.

My second major piece of advice is find a good PT. I was lucky to find a physical therapist that focuses on recovery for athletes. Find a place and therapist you like and feel motivated by. Do not skimp on PT!

And finally, my last piece of advice is to not discount the mental aspect of your recovery. Recovery is physically painful, but honestly the mental aspect was often more difficult for me. Talk with your friends and family about how you FEEL through this process. Perhaps even consider seeking professional help through a therapist. There’s therapy out there specifically tailored for athletes!

Just a few weeks ago I ran again for the first time since my accident. I cannot tell you how exhilarating the feeling was! There is light at the end of the tunnel! Focus on those small wins!

purplefizzy

I’m 18 days out from surgery, and crashing pretty hard; probably overdid it today.
I’ll say more, and more succinctly, when my brain is working, but I need to say it now too:
Thank you.
Every one of you has given me something to hold on to or consider or try on for fit.
The thoughtful responses that you gave to this internet stranger - I’m humbled and honored for the time you took to help me feel that I wasn’t walking through this alone.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom and advice and hope and insight.

wearefab

If you fill up mainly on veg salad and fruit then you won't have a problem food wise. Don't worry about overeating apples. I get where you are coming from but the most important thing is to relax your mind so don't worry about it.
As you use exercise for stress relief you need new stress relief.
Deep breathing and meditation are spot on.
Don't worry about body changes. You came back once you will do it again.
As much as possible fill your life with friends and comedy. Anything relaxing whether it be listening to music , podcasts, puzzles, knitting, drinking coffee whilst doing a course on futurelearn or Harvardedx or udemy.
If you keep worrying it won't help so your best bet is to keep accepting that your body will change, but the smart compassionate determined loving soul inside is exactly the same.
Go well ☺

Tankiscool

Someone touched on small victories. I would add to look at it as almost an investment plan or 401k, the little we do today, will pay off bigger in the future.

rheddmobile

A lot of good comments with better advice than I could offer! I just wanted to add that during my recovery from a knee injury last year, while I was unable to run, I hung out in the monthly self-care challenge thread on the challenge sub-forum of MFP. Considering taking care of myself as a radical challenge, at a time when I wasn't up to my usual physical challenges, helped me keep my sanity and keep moving forward instead of sliding back into my old, unfit habits.

HeliumIsNoble

Theoldguy1 wrote: »

Also, as you talk to your physical therapist go over your background and your desire to get back to past actives as soon as possible (without being stupid). Tell them you are willing to do much more than the normal rehab work (assuming you are) to get back, obviously without overdoing it. Tell him/her you want to rehab like your profession depends on. My therapists in the past have told me the typical patient doesn't adhere to the rehab schedule very well so it is typically "dummied down" to get more adherence. You may not have the time to rehab as if your profession depended on it due to actual time you have to spend with family, work, etc but the closer you can get to that the better.

I'd like to second this.

OP, I haven't had anything on the scale of what you've had, but I've had minor issues that necessitated a bit of time off and a sports therapist's input to resolve. I particularly remember the lovely sports therapist commenting that she could tell I had actually done the prescribed exercises. I just stared at her in mute confusion, before eventually saying, "well, er, yeah?"

Apparently most people don't. She said she wished she could use me to demonstrate to her other patients that there was a point to doing them!

jasonpoihegatama

Your an Athlete when you do the exercise for rehab don't go overboard with the exercise's. A good time to learn meditation and start classes but being a athlete you would have been doing meditation classes already, Look after you health try and find things you can do " with my knee injury i was focus on my recovery for years and it has not recovered yet" good luck to you

aokoye

jasonpoihegatama wrote: »

Your an Athlete when you do the exercise for rehab don't go overboard with the exercise's. A good time to learn meditation and start classes but being a athlete you would have been doing meditation classes already, Look after you health try and find things you can do " with my knee injury i was focus on my recovery for years and it has not recovered yet" good luck to you

Being an athlete doesn't mean meditating or taking classes...it doesn't even mean not over training or working, unhealthily, through injury. I don't think it's smart to overtrain and I think it's even less smart to push through injury, but that doesn't make one any less of an athlete.

purplefizzy

Zombie 🧟‍♀️ thread resurrection.

I heard so much good stuff, when I needed it.

The recap:

I again find myself hobbled by an assortment of physical issues.
After the hamstring reattachment & neck surgery, I really dedicated myself to the PT, and came back swinging. Maybe too swing-y; I completed the North Face 50K 10 months after surgery… was again fighting-fit, and after a particularly high-mileage spat in early 2020 and a series of injuries… haven’t really been able to run properly in just over a year.

I’m heavier than I’m comfortable with, but still ‘normal person active.’ I walk a ton, hike regularly. I moved to a pretty remote area of Hawaii, and the exploring is great but I am having a hard time dedicating myself to really doing the strength, agility & balance work I know I need to do if I want to be a lifetime performance athlete.
Basically, I’m being a toddler. When I can’t run, I get pissy and all of the other things (that I mostly do to be able to run happily) fall aside slowly. Quite frankly I’m out of the in-person fitness communities that kept my head in the game, even over streaming workouts… and I really relied on that energy - as it turns out.
I’m not looking for workout suggestions, it’s not a lack of knowledge or lack of access (I have a home gym, an ancient but functional spin bike, etc.)

I’m struggling more with remembering what it felt like to be agile, energetic, strong. Maybe I need to be called on my excuses, but I’m not sure that’s it.
I do know each new physical phase has its own challenges, it’s own rewards. I’m really struggling with accepting that I can’t train at the intensity that I used to - the string of injuries proves that. So I stall at any consistent training, because I ‘can’t do it the way I want to.’

I’m ready to get over myself, surrender to training smarter, and STOP getting hurt because I have overdone it, yet again.

I’d love to hear how y’all approach transitions as athletes. What keeps your head in the game? How do you get excited when facing limitations due to injury or just facing an age-related need to be more measured??

Thanks I’m advance for any updated wisdom.

~fizz

snowflake954

You know--this is really a great thread and very useful for those of us who are not athletes. There are thought provoking comments that I'm feeling to the bone. I'll be 67 next week and just aging and exercising, and trying to push enough, but not too much, is a delicate balance. I've also been really sick for over 2 weeks with a constant cough and mucus and head pain, and weariness (no it's not COVID-- per my doctor).

I just keep slogging through because that's the way I am, but loved the posts and they give me inspiration. Thanks for resurrecting it OP.

AnnPT77

purplefizzy wrote: »

(snippity)

I’d love to hear how y’all approach transitions as athletes. What keeps your head in the game? How do you get excited when facing limitations due to injury or just facing an age-related need to be more measured??

(snippity)

I admit, I only have a fuzzy picture of what's going on with you. I hope you're not trying to pick up where you left off? IME, that's tempting, but waaay doesn't work.

I've never been a performance athlete like you, let's just get that out of the way. I have trained fairly seriously at times, but I was a late bloomer (mid/late 40s) and that's a different development path. I've been fairly active for around 20 years now. (I'm 66.) Athletic performance per se is not part of my core identity in the way it sounds like it maybe has been for you.

What I've found as I've aged - so far - is that I can pretty much do what I've always done or want to do, eventually, if I set my mind to it (except things limited by actual physical body limitations). (However, I don't have a past specific peak standard of performance I yearn to return to, in the way you may. At 20-something or 30-something, I wasn't an athlete.)

For me, the difference with increasing age is that generally I'm not as resilient. That means I need to be as intentional and structured as possible about load, volume, recovery, etc.

I de-train faster, so I want to avoid injury in order to avoid de-training. I regain capabilities a little slower. I need to ramp up gradually, if I do have to take a break (surgical recovery or whatever). Always, I need to plan in body-systems-specific recovery, and general fatigue recovery, in a much more conscious way.

Running a training plan used to be about scheduling workouts (in terms of mindshare). Now, if I want to actually train, it's more like I need to schedule workouts and recoveries. (They always needed to be in the plan, of course, they just didn't need to be quite so *considered*. I'm not talking a different thought process, more like a slightly different flavor . . . a little more shrewd, wily, canny, maybe?)

I think I have a conceptual advantage, in that I've been a middle-aged, overweight/obese, totally out of shape person, very physically depleted (especially right after cancer treatment). It's been quite a few years, but I do have some actual memory. I don't want to be that person again: It's just not nearly as pleasant . . . and I like pleasure. The older I get, the more I recognize how easy it could be to slide back too far in that direction. Mustn't.

The effect is that I don't really think in terms of being excited about progress as a motivation to work out (though some progress will come, with the right effort/plan). It's the swamp horror in the opposite direction, plus the pure enjoyment of what I still do, that's motivation enough to do something(s).

Another thing I think about aging specifically, is that with any luck we know ourselves better, what our strengths, preferences, skills, limitations are - not just physical things, but emotional, intellectual, and more. There's an opportunity to take advantage of our self-insights, harness those things, and game our inclinations to our own benefit, maybe.

Mostly, I'm not training training now, TBH. It's not because I can't, it's because I'm just not feeling it, in terms of where I personally want my overall life balance. I'm still active, I still care about technical improvement in my sport and work at it (that's part of what "keeps my head in the game" because it's part of what makes it fun). But I'm not "training" (like running any kind of structured, periodized plan that sharpens for the Michigan Games/Michigan Club Invitational or Masters Nationals or whatever).

As I said before (upthread), helping others - new participants - come along in my sport is also a positive for me to keep going, and (when I have the chance) helping inactive others my age discover that in many cases, it's our own or others' low expectations that limit us, more than we're limited by true physical inability.

You may be - I dunno - at the point where you (recently/now/soon) shift from being "an athlete" to "an age group athlete". I don't have any experience with that. I've only ever been "an age group athlete". No comment at all on that transition.

Hoping you can find your way through the transition you need, to the right overall happy life balance for you.

P.S. I think there are quite a few athletes here on MFP who'd have good perspectives on working through rehabs, life phases, transitions. What I don't know is whether they'll react to this particular thread title.

purplefizzy

AnnPT77 wrote: »

purplefizzy wrote: »

(snippity)

I’d love to hear how y’all approach transitions as athletes. What keeps your head in the game? How do you get excited when facing limitations due to injury or just facing an age-related need to be more measured??

(snippity)

**so many important and nuanced points**

Another thing I think about aging specifically, is that with any luck we know ourselves better, what our strengths, preferences, skills, limitations are - not just physical things, but emotional, intellectual, and more. There's an opportunity to take advantage of our self-insights, harness those things, and game our inclinations to our own benefit, maybe.

Ann, blowing my mind with the various levels of insight and really applicable framing. Thank you so much for the time. This is really helpful.

You nailed it, on the core identity part. I have had phases where I was terrifically inactive in sporting terms, and got quite heavy - but much of my life, and the best times, have been really active. I see my feet as a really great way to explore the world, and the gym has been both a source of income, community, sanity - so absolutely. I am pretty lost when I can’t move with the ease and power that feels like ‘me at most me.’

Service - knowledge sharing and support - has been really fulfilling. I needed this reminder - that sometimes it’s not about my own growth, it’s about watching someone else progress and coaching and sharing in their wins.

Admittedly- I do still aspire to run at distance again. To train intensely. But having returned and then regressed (again!) I’m most focused on being able to explore and not be limited by my body, and by explore I do realize that the paths I seek are pretty rugged.

Yes, so much yes, to both knowing ourselves- and to how much more pleasant - and FUN - it is to be in the trained/healthy/optimized-for-US zone.
The fluffy things (clothes shopping being fun! Full closet viability!), the daily things (skipping easily down the stairs, racing the elevator and winning) and the sport-specific things (the joy of a weekend or vacation spent on the trails, without being hobbled from it.) These I can and will keep front and center.

I’m also aiming for a reframing of the active recovery things (foam rolling, stretching, the not that exciting PT drills) as a win, not a warmup.

Thank you thank you. ❤️