What Do You Do When You're Injured?

KittyMul

Hello MFP-ers!

I went to the doctor this morning for a sore shoulder and it turns out I've torn the two major muscles surrounding my shoulder.

He's told me absolutely no exercise for at least a week, and then gentle walking, water exercises or recumbent cycling for at least two weeks after that.

I'm freaking out a little bit. I've recently been through a nasty break up and running/training has been my god-sent coping mechanism. I always get extra hungry on days I don't exercise. I'm supposed to be training for an 8km race in a few months, so I really don't want lose fitness and have to drop out (I've never done a race before - six months ago I couldn't even run). I have my uni graduation in six weeks and I wanted to lose another few kg before then.

All of that said, I want to recover quickly and recover well. Can you please share tips for A) gentle exercise that I can do without using my upper body, and how many calories would you eat? I know I need to heal those tears so I'm planning on focusing on lots of protein (also to keep me feeling full), and maybe keep them at about 1300?

Thanks for any advice, I don't want this to derail me because I was an idiot and fell out of my own bed.

KittyMul

Nobody?? Bumpity bump!

OddSquid

He's told me absolutely no exercise for at least a week, and then gentle walking, water exercises or recumbent cycling for at least two weeks after that.

This. Yes, it does suck. Injuries need time and rest in order to heal.

But let me counter this with a rhetorical question: how long will you be laid up if you ignore it and aggravate the injury even worse than it is now? How much less activity will you be able to do if a muscle tear becomes blown ligaments and torn cartilage?

There will be other races. You only have one body.

KittyMul

He's told me absolutely no exercise for at least a week, and then gentle walking, water exercises or recumbent cycling for at least two weeks after that.

This. Yes, it does suck. Injuries need time and rest in order to heal.

But let me counter this with a rhetorical question: how long will you be laid up if you ignore it and aggravate the injury even worse than it is now? How much less activity will you be able to do if a muscle tear becomes blown ligaments and torn cartilage?

There will be other races. You only have one body.

Thanks for the reply

I completely agree, I definitely don't want it to get worse. That's what I'm asking - what are the best things to do that won't hurt it! My default is to run and train hard, I don't really know any gentle exercises. I've never worked out in a pool, I wouldn't have a clue what to do! Obviously swimming is out, because I can't use my arm, so what else is there to do?

I don't know if I should aim to lose, aim to maintain or just forget about the scales for a while. I need a plan so I don't panic and either do more injury to myself or completely lose focus.

em9371

Hi,
I'm in pretty much the same situation but I've injured my knee, was boxing, spinning, running, weight training 5 days a week and now I can do nothing it's driving me nut, could be out for several months!!
I wanted to keep up exercise so Dr recommended swimming and upper body weights only but I found that still aggraved my knee, have been on total rest last 2 days and it is feeling a little better. It's hard to accept but sometimes you need to take time off to let your body heal.
I would agree with your dr, total rest for a week, and then lower body only exercise such as recumbent bike or hill walking on treadmill. When it feels better, still take it easy for a few weeks don't jump right back to where you left off.
Re the calorie level, I would aim for losing maybe 0.5 lb or even maintain. I was set for 2lb week with exercise, 1lb without. Last week I gained 0.8 think that was due to the sudden extra cals from not exercising, but this week it's creeping back down. For me I'm more hungry when I don't exercise for some reason so cutting cals further will not work for me, I'm interested to see what I lose with keeping to the higher cal level!

neenaj33

Rest,,,focus more on nutrition

mowu

Rest,,,focus more on nutrution

This....and as you've mentioned yourself. This could also be a good time to focus on maintaining rather than losing, give your body whatever it needs to recover in the best possible way. In the end this will probably get you back to 100% a lot faster than trying to press on.

BerryH

I fell and tore the ligaments in my shoulder so badly it took more than a year until I could move my arm properly again. However, my doctor told me as I was doing Marathon training I couldn't skip I could run wearing a sling! I wouldn't recommend it, however, it's just damn dangerous. However, I can't see why you couldn't be using a stationery bike right away. You could try pool running in chest-high water, it's one of my favourites when injured and you wouldn't need to use your arms.

Aperture_Science

In my opinion (and I don’t have science to back this up) the most important part of injury recovery is the early days. The better you can rest in the first few hours and days the quicker your recovery will be.

So, in your position I would be off exercise for the recommended 1 week and take it easy for the next one at least. I’m being vague about the second week on purpose because how well you feel during that week is going to be a major factor.
With respect to your race if it’s a few months away, taking a couple of weeks off now is not likely to impact on the race massively (if at all).

Gentle exercise is going to depend upon what causes pain (I’m not one for taking painkillers, I like to know when something is causing pain so that I can stop it! but if you are in continual pain I can see that taking a tablet is going to be the only option) but in the first week I would try to get out for a 40min to 1 hour walk per day (I’m basing this on the fact that you are already fit and used to spending a decent chunk of your day exercising and you need to get out to keep you sane), obviously if walking gives you pain don’t continue with it. Next week if you can get to the swimming pool you could try power walking in water. I’ve done it a few times and because you can’t move very quickly there is very little upper body work considering the lower body effort.
Food, if you are looking to continue weight loss 1300 sounds sensible.

Best wishes with it.

Gail3260

Could you swim using a float? You could lie on your back holding the float across your chest and kick hard with your legs.

leelee_1974

I was going to suggest the same. Having said that, give your body as long as it needs, it's counter-productive to push it while it needs to heal.

Lozzielol

Rest as long as it takes. Last week I ended up in hopsital with xrays and such, and got a lovely large boot to wear on my right ankle because of acute tendonitis. It had been very painful for a while before that and got to the stage that I couldnt even put weight on my ankle. Dont rush it, because you could make it much worse. I've just been gently walking, for long distances I take my walking stick because I'm quite unsteady on my feet. I just keep thinking one more week and this thing comes off, and I can build up to what I was doing before.

Funnily enough, a close friend remarked that I looked slimmer despite resting the last few weeks. Just take it easy, no point aggravating yourself and doubling your recovery time.