Training Through Injury

By Megan Signal; Renegade Strength & Conditioning & CF East Tamaki coach  

I broke the humerus bone in my left arm during a competition back in 2013. Having never broken a bone before, I had no idea what I’d done... that was until I saw the X-ray. I was still thinking I could bandage it up and head home. But no, I was informed I needed surgery; some metal and a long recovery was the only fix. I was gutted. I thought “my sporting adventure is done, I’m never gonna lift the same again (let alone get a chance to compete in a CrossFit open!)”. I was a novice athlete, intermediate at best and therefore incredibly naive as to what my injury entailed.

Fast forward 4 months, the healing of a large surgical wound and 2 metal plates + 11 screws later, I snatched my PB weight again, and worked up to a PR back squat which I haven’t reached since. I was then back into full training with an arm as strong, if not stronger, than before.

It’s amazing what 4 years in a sport can teach you - not only about your own body, but your mind too. Unfortunately, training through an injury once before didn’t make hearing the verdict a second time around all that much easier. A mere 4 weeks out from my final Commonwealth Games 2018 qualifier, during what would have been a PR clean and jerk, I fully tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and meniscus in my right knee. In that very moment I felt far more disappointment than I did pain. Once again, all emotions I experienced above came back, and the same thoughts went through my head... “my Commonwealth dream is over, I worked so hard, the last 6 months were for nothing” etc.

I found out that surgery and a long recovery period was my best bet as far as getting back to doing what I love - Olympic Weightlifting and CrossFit. Following this, I felt a bit more positive about things as I now had my first, most crucial step.. A plan of action.

This is my own personal journey in the process of rehabilitation - which is probably a bit like yours if you have gone through something similar.

There are two main challenges within this process: physical restriction and mental restriction. The latter being the most difficult for sure.

Once you have suffered and overcome the short-term loss of your goals (those that were just within your reach, those that now seem so much further away), you can start chipping away and progress forward. Take time to grieve, as you would with any loss, this is a very important part of the process. However, you can’t trap yourself there forever - or you will never move on to the next step of your recovery.

Being told by a medical professional that “you will not be able to lift the same weight again” (or maybe in your case: run, jump, tackle, change direction etc.) is far from ideal. In fact, devastating, like “WTF else am I supposed to do?”...

1. Get into a positive mindset.

It is extremely important to listen to your physio, surgeon and/or Dr. However, it can also be beneficial talking to someone who has suffered the same, or similar, injury, or someone who does the same, or  similar, sport. Someone who has lived and breathed the recovery process already. Every single case has a slightly different outcome. There are always success stories though - find them! As giving up on doing what you love, especially this early in the piece, is simply not an option.

2. Move.

Once you have determined what is safe, get mobile. In my case, restrictions were put in place so I couldn’t damage my knee any further. So if I had no pain, and the inflammation wasn’t increasing, I could continue to train through my injury, or at least up until the date of surgery. If you were previously training towards a set goal, whether it be an event, achieving a movement, or just being better.. returning to training can seem quite daunting.

Training with others can become difficult. Like when doing CrossFit classes, you feel as though you are “that person”, the one who has to change everything. It may seem all too difficult... But! Rather than looking at the glass half empty - “I can’t squat, I can’t jump, I can’t run”, try looking at what you CAN do - “I can ring dip, I can do pull-ups, I can do seated presses”. How lucky are we in the sport of fitness? We have literally hundreds of movements that don’t require the use of both the upper and lower body at any given time.

3. Ask for help.

If you’re unsure of how to build a library of movements you can do, or how to write creative workouts in order to keep things exciting, then ask someone - that’s what your coaches are there for. I built myself a library each week leading up to surgery and enjoyed adding to it. It was not only my new project, but also an effective way of measuring progress.

There is a direct correlation between exercise and your state of mind; it releases your “feel-good brain chemicals” and helps ease what might feel like a mild form of depression at times.

4 Work on what is in your control.

Increasing your strength at this point may not be possible. Your body needs to work hard at repairing, before rebuilding… so what is in your control? Nutrition. A pivotal part in the process. Without good fuel, you are only partially working to ensure that you are recovering as fast as humanly possible. As I’m sure you wouldn’t, I didn’t want to gain unwanted weight whilst not training. So I took a plunge and joined a nutrition plan. I had enough knowledge to create my own, but knowing me I didn’t know how well I would stick to it. Therefore I decided to get someone else to do it for me. This way I had accountability, was fuelling my body for recovery, and not losing confidence in the process.

5 Step by step.

Configure a solid rehab plan. You should have a good physio and coach to help you with this. There is far more that comes with 1 injury then what you may first think. Such as imbalances in the body that may affect you later down the track. Rebuilding strength can be tough, especially after a long time - so do it right. Once you have a good rehab plan, set milestones, and work towards having good movement again. You will be surprised at just how quickly your strength returns.

Whether you are training through a catastrophic injury, or something a little more minor, it can be a lonely road - but it doesn’t have to be.

Remember: Glass half full, get creative, set milestones and focus on what is in your control.

Every challenge is an opportunity to grow.