how did you find the confidence to work out again after injury?

[Anonymous]

I'm just coming out of a low back injury (L5 and S1 bulging discs). I've obviously worked with PT and have been given the green light to ease back in to exercise as well as guidance on some strengthening moves to incorporate. But it's been about 4 months since I've done anything more than very slow walking and stretching/strengthening PT moves. I'm pretty scared to start again, even though I've been told that building back up my strength and cardiovascular health is important to preventing recurrence. I just can't stop being scared that working out is going to send me right back to the pain and injury.

Any words of wisdom from people who've been there? What I want to get back to is strength training, yoga, and fast walking (I've never been a runner). After not being able to forward fold for months, even yoga sounds terrifying.

[Anonymous]

I work with a personal trainer who comes to me once a week (after a hip replacement, with the other hip barely holding on and SI joint arthritis). Certified and experienced in injury recovery. I’ve made amazing progress by working through exercises that don’t stress my injured joints, giving real time feedback if I have pain, getting feedback on form and getting a list of cardio I can do on my own, safely, with my physical limitations (recumbent bike is a biggie). Pp.

[Anonymous]

Take baby steps. I had an injury that took me out of commission for a long time. I started walking on the treadmill for 5 mins until I felt pain. Pain is your signal to stop so you don't re-injure. I never judged myself for how long I could exercise during the first few months back - I only judged myself on trying. So if it was 5 mins on the treadmill, I thought - ok, well maybe tomorrow I can do 6 mins. Little by little my strength and endurance came back. It can be a long road but you just have to go at your own pace. Good luck, OP!!

[Anonymous]

You’ll find what works for you. And once you do, it will be like clock work.

I dealt with lower back issues in connection with riding my aggressive bikes. I solved all that was some very good posterior chain and core strength work. Recently, I had a somewhat bad bike wreck (a few weekends ago). So, I have some arm related injuries I gotta deal with and work around. I just did some of my strength training at the gym at work today and I’m going to see my performance PT on Monday to work out more safe alternatives.

Pain is a good signal. But knowing what is a signal to stop is something to learn. Just go slow. The nervous system is just a big circuit diagram designed to give you information.

[Anonymous]

I have not had disk issues but have injured myself deadlifting. Pulled muscles that were insanely painful. I have definitely have to work through the mental side of things and fear of doing that again.

What has helped me is starting slow. Making sure I do a proper warm-up. Putting ego aside and using light/easier weights while really focusing on form. I also go over all the form ques in my head to ensure proper form.

[Anonymous]

I went from rotator cuff surgery back to CrossFit after 6 months of PT. My PT gave me great advice on how to get back into it slowly. And the coaches at my gym (one of whom had had the same surgery) helped me scale the workouts for a long time until I was confident I could do them normally. I also asked my orthopedic doc and he reassured me I’d be ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went from rotator cuff surgery back to CrossFit after 6 months of PT. My PT gave me great advice on how to get back into it slowly. And the coaches at my gym (one of whom had had the same surgery) helped me scale the workouts for a long time until I was confident I could do them normally. I also asked my orthopedic doc and he reassured me I’d be ok.

I did it really answer your question, but what I meant was — ask and then trust the professionals who have treated you, to help you get over the fear. Listen to your body, and build up slowly. But you are correct, doing something is much better for you than doing nothing. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

OP here, problem is my PT was adequate but the advice she's given me is the same you could find on any youtube video - it's definitely not personalized to me.

Did you all pay out of pocket for a better experience? If so, where did you find it? I'm in NOVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, problem is my PT was adequate but the advice she's given me is the same you could find on any youtube video - it's definitely not personalized to me.

Did you all pay out of pocket for a better experience? If so, where did you find it? I'm in NOVA.

I actually injured my L4 L5 in yoga class, and what I had the exact same experience with the PT (I could find it on youtube). My biggest takeaway is that I should not do classes - I'm a big people pleaser, and I will try to push myself in ways that are not healthy for me. I agree with the poster on really listening to your body and pain as you work. Core is key - I would work on the McGill big 3 (just youtube) until those feel easy. I was gradually getting better at the gym (part of my disc fragment hit my femoral nerve, so I had a lot of rehab on my quad to do), and agree with the poster that said just a few minutes of movement to start (I already was walking a lot, and the thing that felt the least jarring on my spine was a stair stepper). I recently went on vacation where I hiked every day. I had a lot of fear about that, but realized I could do it, and that my back was okay. I got a lot stronger doing that (I definitely paid attention if I had pain). There is a video of McGill explaining that what you don't want to do is to try to go after something right away hard. Say you want to bike 30 minutes. Try 5 the first day (if it doesn't hurt). Wait a day. Check in with how you feel. Then maybe after a few days do two five minute sessions, etc. I agree with the approach of loading really slowly to avoid injury.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, problem is my PT was adequate but the advice she's given me is the same you could find on any youtube video - it's definitely not personalized to me.

Did you all pay out of pocket for a better experience? If so, where did you find it? I'm in NOVA.

I have a Trainer assigned to me who comes to my home and works on my goals through DeHenzel Training Systems in NOVA. Highly recommend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, problem is my PT was adequate but the advice she's given me is the same you could find on any youtube video - it's definitely not personalized to me.

Did you all pay out of pocket for a better experience? If so, where did you find it? I'm in NOVA.

I paid out of pocket and I’ll probably never get it back since my out of network deductible is so high. I went to cohen health and performance. They have locations in Bethesda and McLean.