5 Things to Keep in Mind While You Recuperate

Offering Registered Massage Therapy & Yoga Therapy in Courtenay BC

5 Things to Keep in Mind While You Recuperate

August 1, 2023

The road to recovery can feel long and bumpy, and sometimes, plain old disheartening.

Heck, you may not even be recovering from an injury! You may simply have the goal of making your daily tasks easier to do – not because you have pain, but because you feel stiff or limited.

No matter the reason you are working on your body and it’s abilities, you will probably get frustrated every once in a while.

Things won’t always happen or change as quickly as you want
The process is never completely smooth sailing
Whatever limiting factors you’re dealing with will still make things you have to do inconvenient or difficult along the way
And sometimes it feels like you’re trying to catch smoke

I think it’s the uncertainty that gets people the most… What will be ‘the thing’ that works? How long will this take? When will I have a set back?

After all, there’s no user manual for the human body to give you all the answers!

Here are 5 key things to keep in mind that will help you

1. The pain (or limitation) isn’t necessarily where the problem is.

Just hammering away at the spot that grabs your attention most may not be the answer. Your body is a multifaceted, creative and adaptive organism. There isn’t going to be one single stretches, exercise or physical landmark on your body that will solve all of your problems. It’s important to keep an open mind and come at the issues from all different angles. It takes a lot of trial and error!

2. Consistency is key.

Most injuries have roots in repetitive motions that have slowly and discreetly wreaked havoc over time. The same goes for limited movement as well – How you use your body on a daily basis will determine what areas move well from constant use, which ones get stiff from a lack of use, and which tissues get aggravated from overuse or improper use.

Replacing old habits with better ones takes time. First you need to have at least a vague awareness of what the poor habit was, and then you need to replace it with a better one. Retraining yourself to move more often and/or in a healthier way takes time and consistency.

3. Having a goal is important, but don’t be blinded by it.

You need to know where you want to go in order to plan a path… If there are certain things you need your body to be able to do or tolerate in order to do your job, sport, hobby or simply live your every day life, this provides very clear movements and actions to measure against and build up to.

It’s IS however very important to focus too heavily on that goal.

It can be very disheartening when you’re still not there… still not there… still not there… It becomes difficult to appreciate how far you’ve actually come already!

4. Set backs are normal.

It’s very easy to get discouraged when you suddenly feel like you’re back at square one.

Everyone, at some point, will experience a sudden relapse in their progress. It may last a day – it may last week. It sucks, I’m not going to lie, but it’s normal, it’s expected, and it does not mean you are never going to reach your goals.

5. More things may come out of the woodwork, but they’re usually a small part of the whole.

There are going to be ‘new things’ that crop up as you move through the process of improving mobility, stability, strength and essentially, your ability to do the things you need and want to do comfortably.

Don’t be fooled though – more often than not, I’ve found that these ‘new things’ are actually ‘old things’ that have been so buried under compensation patterns and coping mechanisms that they faded into the background. That or it’s an area of your body finally kicking in to do it’s intended job when it’s been allowed to slack off for a while…

So don’t lose hope!

No matter what your goals are or where you are starting from, it’s a whole process! Your body also wants to get back to a better state, so don’t feel like it’s you against your body. It may just be that your mind and body need to get on the same page and speak each others languages.

If you’d like some help in that department, I’m creating a 3 part series of steps you can take to

Figure out what’s triggering your symptoms upon reflection
Start to feel how your body is responding to things in real time
Develop the confidence to choose how to respond in the moment to take the strain off your body and get ahead of your symptoms.

If you’re interested in trying this out, you can get access to the first step here!

This blog entry was written by Heather and is based on what she has seen resonate with, and work for her clientele for over a decade. She is a career student who keeps her massage and yoga therapy training current, and does her best to keep up with the newest research and evidence.

Offering Registered Massage Therapy & Yoga Therapy in Courtenay BC