As I touched on in part one of this series, injuries just plain suck and are somewhat inevitable when you lead an active lifestyle. Often times an injury can leave us not only feeling pretty darn bummed out but, also a little unsure. You want to get back to training and doing what you enjoy but don’t want to make the injury worse either. In addition, you might feel really torn between wanting to heal but also wanting to stay active. In part one, I suggest you start with an injury self-assessment to determine if you need to see your healthcare practitioner. Next, you want to turn your focus towards recovery and potentially continue with modified training. Again, you want to train AROUND your injury not THROUGH IT.
But what does training AROUND your injury look like? That’s what part two of this series will hopefully help you with. While you are working on recovery here’s what you can focus on in the gym that will still help you make progress when you are healed and ready to return to your normal training routine.
1. Work on your weaknesses and get back to the basics
Try taking this opportunity to spend some time focusing on training what you have been notoriously not good at doing. In fact, some of those weaknesses and imbalances may be the origin of your injury. When we are healthy we never want to slow things down and work on technique. We want to continue to lift heavy and do the things we feel like we are good at doing and feel strong. However, this could be the perfect time to focus on your exercise technique by reducing the loads and going back to the basics to perfect your form. Slow down the movement, focus on building the mind muscle connection. You can also increase time under tension to assist with recruiting more muscle fibers.
2. Don’t be afraid to move
General movement can be your friend. Sometimes a little movement can appropriately stress the injured area and assist with recovery. As long as the movement you are performing is in a pain-free range. Start with a limited range as you slowly raise or lower to evaluate your tolerance and pain level. Find a range that you can work in that is pain-free and stay there. You may even be able to take this opportunity while you are using lighter loads to improve your range of motion within a given movement.
3. Turn your focus to your conditioning
Not all your time in the gym needs to be weight training (Gasp!). I know, this isn’t my usual mantra but hear me out. While you are recovering, you could turn your attention to improving your overall conditioning level. This doesn’t mean spend ALL your time on the treadmill. But you could spend some time working on your aerobic capacity and add more steady state cardio which can also help with recovery. Blood flow around the injured site as well as throughout the body promotes the exchange of waste and the rebuilding of cells which can speed recovery.
Don’t consider your recovery wasted time. These are all things that can easily translate to improved lifting when you are back to 100%. As always, you want to make sure that even with the lighter loads, slowed tempo, increased steady state, and possibly increased range of motion, that it is ALL performed pain-free.
Commonly injured areas and suggestions for training around the pain.
Every injury and person is different. No one method of training around an injury is going to work for all people. With every injury, you really need to use your best judgment and possibly the advice of your healthcare practitioner and or trainer to help you in determining what is best for you.
This is by no means an exhaustive list or meant to be taken as gospel, but I wanted to provide you with a few ideas on what you might be able to do if you have some of these common painful areas.
Shoulder pain with overhead movement
- Scapular work
- Bent Rows, with the barbell or single arm with Dumbbell
- Cable Column Row’s (can play with different grips; V-grip, wide Grip, etc)
- Reverse Fly’s
- I’s, T’s, Y’s (Y’s can sometimes cause pain/impingement, don’t do them if they are painful)
- Biceps
- Triceps
- Rear Delts
- Chest work
- Bench Press or use DB to the floor
- Push Ups (can add a “Plus” to engage the serratus muscle which helps with scapular stabilization)
- Dumbbell or Cable Column Fly’s
- All lower body movements
- Core work
Knee pain
- Hip hinge movements
- Hip Thrusts
- Modified deadlifts
- Rack pulls (to limit the range)
- Romanian Deadlifts/Straight Leg Deadlifts
- Single Leg Straight Leg Deadlifts
- Leg Press (modified range as needed)
- Leg Curls
- Step ups (instead of step downs)
- Bridges all variations
- Core work
Ankle pain
- Knee and hip hinge movements in pain-free ranges
- Balance/proprioceptive work
- Lunges if tolerated
- forward
- side
- reverse
- curtsy
- Leg extension
- Leg curls
- Hip Thrusts
- Bridges
- Band work for hips
- Gentle step ups/step downs
- Most if not all Upper body work
- Core work
Low Back pain
*Back injuries are extremely variable and, I find, one of the hardest injuries to actually work around. ALWAYS use your best judgment, stay in a pain-free range, and never hesitate to see your healthcare practitioner BEFORE implementing any of these exercises.
**If you are experiencing any numbness/tingling, paresthesia in the “saddle” area, pain waking you at night, loss of bowel or bladder function, history of cancer, progressive neurological deficit, or disturbed gait you should see your doctor immediately or go to the emergency department.
What to consider before you get started
You will likely want to reduce weight for most if not all exercises. Often increased loads can increase pain. Positioning can also sometimes create an issue. For example, don’t select an exercise your have to lay down on a bench if getting into or out of that position would cause pain. Or if being in a laying position would cause pain. Be careful with unilateral movements (one-sided movements) for both upper and lower body. These can create increased rotation or torque on the back and possibly increase pain. Unilateral movements can be helpful just test it out first with a light load and limited range to be sure that you are not creating pain. Always make sure that whatever you are doing is pain-free!
- Upper body work-low intensity
- Lat pulldowns
- Chest supported rows
- Chest work
- Leg press machines instead of barbell work
- Gentle lunges
- Squats (lightweight or unweighted)
- Goblet Squats
- Air Squats
- Box Squats
- Deadlifts (variations NOT pulling from the floor)
- Core, Core, Core
- Table Top or Hooklying Transverse Activation
- Bird Dogs
- Modified Planks (if able)
- Laying with bent knees activate transverse abdominus and march
I fully understand how much exercising and weight training help with the stressors of life. This can make dealing with an injury even more frustrating and can really take a toll mentally. Though we need to do our best to help our bodies heal from injury, that doesn’t always mean staying at home and waiting around. Next time you are recovering from an injury, instead of feeling frustrated and lost, try implementing some of these strategies. You’ll feel much more in control of your recovery which can help keep you mentally and physically happy.
Here’s to staying active and injury free… but just in case, now you know what you can work on while you are healing.
Happy lifting!
Xx
Allison
