Athletic Intelligence: When is the time to push through the pain of an injury?
There are five key questions to ask yourself when you are training with an injury that will most likely last throughout your athletic journey. The key components are physical, mental and emotional. How do you sift through all of it though? Here are a few questions I ask myself, and encourage you to do the same.
1. What is my injury?
2. What do my workouts entail in the upcoming weeks, ( competitions, practices, extra training etc.) to get the most gains without further injury or pain?
3. What routines can I establish every day ( ice, heat elevation, journaling, chronicling your timeline for rehab) to assist in faster recovery and wellness?
4. What mental attitudes can I reassess? ( i.e. turning “I will never heal…” to “ how can I learn from this and let it make me a better athlete?”)
5. What can I except from myself when pushing through this pain?
I like to assess and reassess this list every day to break down my obstacles and maximize my training gains. I need to determine if I am just sore, my injury is flaring up, or if I am in so much pain that it is affecting my training efficiency. After you ask yourself these questions, talk to another athlete about their journey or ask a coach for advice. Every step of the journey counts, but we all must keep our eyes on our goals to achieve maximum greatness.
For further reading, here’s an article published by the NCAA on how injuries affect mental health and how to cope with it.