Injured, Not Defeated: A Positive Approach to Managing Your Injury

1) Mechanics – What caused the injury, and what can we do about it in the future?

There is an endless list of injuries that can afflict us as runners, but when you boil it down to the basics, injuries come from two main causes.
Acute Injuries – You had an accident (fall, ankle roll, etc.)
Chronic Injuries – You did too much of something (overtraining) or you didn’t do enough of something (strength or mobility training)

This is a great moment to stop and learn a valuable lesson. Could I have prevented this from happening? Acute injuries come on suddenly; maybe you went out for a run on an icy path and should have changed your interval workout to the treadmill, indoor track or the bike. Chronic injuries come on slowly, over a period of weeks or months; maybe you have been running extra on your rest days on a regular basis and your body started talking back to you. Or maybe you haven’t been doing your strength and prehab, so that tight hip led to a tight IT Band, which led to a nagging knee injury. 

Regardless of how you ended up injured, this is a perfect time to self-reflect and re-assess. How did it happen, could it have been prevented, and what can you do in the future to avoid other injuries like this? Once you can pinpoint how this injury came to be, it can be helpful to work with a professional to help get you back on the road.

Consider this a great time to build a stronger relationship with your running coach. Maybe your coach has been gently reminding you to slow the pace down on your easy runs or to take a true rest and recovery day. Hopefully, you will feel more comfortable communicating with your coach about twinges as they arise, so they can tweak your program for you to prevent further complications.

Building a relationship with a physiotherapist is extremely beneficial if (knock on wood) you happen to become injured again. Taking this opportunity to gain some education on your body mechanics, including your personal physical weaknesses and understating where your body has been overcompensating is helpful moving forward.

This is also a great opportunity to incorporate more self-care into your program. Booking in chiropractic adjustments for your hips, pelvis and ankles or Active Release Techniques (ART) for your tight hips, IT band, quads, gluteus and calf muscles might be something extra preventative you can add to your running regime. Even maintaining your body with a regular massage may have been something you have been neglecting. 

2) Modifications – How can  you adjust your training to avoid losing fitness

Being on the injured list does not mean you are destined for the couch with a bag of chips. In fact, it is wise not to get stuck in this rut, as it will be harder to get back on the road when the injury has healed. During a season of injury it is imperative you work with your coach and physiotherapist to modify your movements and workouts. 

For some injured athletes this may mean taking time away from running, but in many cases indoor cycling can be a safe substitute. Indoor cycling is especially safe for knee and ankle injuries when you cannot put load on your joints, but you can still fluidly move your legs in a safe seated position. Your bike seat can be adjusted to protect your injury and recruit opposing muscle groups to do the majority of the work, so be sure to ask your coach about this. Other options for cross training include walking (possibly incorporating some stairs), hiking and pool running. It is also a great opportunity to focus more on strength training.

Finally, if you are unable to train, or have a major reduction in training volume, look at that free time as an opportunity to move other areas of your life forward. What things can you do to set yourself up for optimal training when you are back at it? Can you tie up some loose ends around the house? Get ahead on a big project at work? Dial in your recovery, nutrition or sleep? Making improvements in all of these areas will help you be more effective in the future, and are time well spent!

3) Mindset – How can you turn this into an opportunity?

Perhaps the most important of the three. This is your chance to up your mental game. Consider your injury an opportunity to have a sweeter comeback. 

You know that feeling you get when you are driving and you see another runner crushing a workout and you get a tiny little bit of jealousy that that isn’t you? Injuries give us the same effect. We look around us at everybody who is still running and feel almost an envy or jealousy which can send us into pity party mode. Don’t waste your energy here. This is the perfect opportunity to re-examine what fuels your mental tank. If you love visualization as much as I do you can take this time to visualize your future running goals while working up your heart rate on your spin bike or lifting weights to keep your mind and body distracted.

Use this time to read practical books like The Runner’s Brain by Dr. Jeff Brown who discusses “brain strategies” like goal setting and visualization/focus in his book. This is the perfect time to fuel your mental tank with new mantras and stories of other runners who have paved the way to their running dreams. Reading running memoirs, printing out old race photos to put up on a visualization board, listening to running podcasts or following your favorite athletes on social media is another way to stay connected to the running community while you flesh out other ways to fill your time.

When it comes to being injured, the glass is always half full if you want it to be. Don’t let an injury sideswipe your ego and give you nightmares of being benched for an eternity. Get back up and get going. Work with your injury, not against it.