When Injury Strikes

Y’all, we’re OLD now.

Injuries are bound to happen—whether directly as a result of overdoing your workout, or perhaps something completely unrelated—but either way, you might need to take time off from your routine, or at least cut back.

I hope I don’t need to say this again—but just in case, I will—SEE YOUR HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL to assess the severity of the injury and FOLLOW THEIR ADVICE about continuing with your program.

In my personal experience: I have a chronic IT band issue due to my knee replacement surgery. It didn’t rear its ugly head until about 9 months post op, but it came on with a vengeance. Now, IT band pain/tightness isn’t uncommon after knee replacement, but it eventually got so painful that it was affecting my sleep. Anything even gently brushing up against the outside of my thigh was excruciating. It got to the point where I took my own advice and saw my surgeon (just in case it was related to something going wrong with my knee). He confirmed that my knee was stable and strong and that my IT band was super-tight.

At this time, I decided to take 5 days off from the gym (I was going stir crazy, for sure) to see if an extended rest would help. My surgeon didn’t think it was specifically exercise-related, but my physical therapist told me I was doing too much. I spent 20 years not being able to do anything that required walking/standing for more than 5 minutes; damn straight I was gonna “do too much” as soon as I was able.

But the important thing here is, I listened to my body after seeking medical care. Spoiler: the rest didn’t help. I’m back at the gym.

1. Ask your doc/physical therapist if they suggest a complete break from working out vs. possibly modifying your routine (and for how long). Sometimes your whole body needs a break to facilitate healing; sometimes just resting the affected area is enough.
   1. For example, if you injured your leg (and assuming you can still drive), ask your doc if you can still do arm day—seated, of course.
   2. Or if your leg injury isn’t severe, ask if you can still do leg day but cut WAY back on the amount of weight, and use the gym as rehab.
2. If the gym is off limits, ask what you CAN do. Take an evening walk? Maybe some bodyweight exercises? Chair yoga?
3. If the injury is related to something specific you did in your workout, ask if you need to modify that particular exercise, or if you need to find a friendlier substitute.