How to keep training while injured and get results
One of the biggest problems in the career of every person who wants to train, whether for aesthetics, performance, health or any other reasons, is the issue of injuries. You are progressing, everything seems to be going well, you are having perseverance and, suddenly, an injury arrives that truncates your aspirations. At this moment, when you have just been injured, you have the perfect opportunity to give up, you have the best excuse to stop training. You can go back to being a lazy person who doesn't train, deep down you may even feel some relief. You go to the doctor and, with his characteristic “prudence,” he tells you to take 2 months of complete rest, you already have your excuse. To everyone who asks you:“Hey, haven't you started training? How are you doing?”You can tell them your sad story about how you were injured and have to rest for two months. But, deep down, even if you don't even want to think about it, even if you try to avoid bringing that idea to the forefront, you know that in reality you could continue training without a problem, you have an injured shoulder, not all of your joints, you can train legs, abs, and if you care enough, you may be able to train your chest, back and maybe even your shoulder itself. The question is: will you have the necessary strength to continue training? Or will you use the excuse of the poor injured guy who can't do anything? If you want to avoid falling into that trap, if you want to do things well and achieve your goals no matter what, I recommend following the action protocol that I am going to explain to you below: First of all,if it is a traumatic injury, such as a possible sprain or break, you should go to the doctor so that they can perform the necessary tests and give you a correct diagnosis. I recommend that you do not trust 100% of what they tell you in the emergency room, since, in my experience, they often give you a quick diagnosis without sufficient tests.If you suspect that it may have been something more serious, for example a tendon or ligament tear, make an appointment with your family doctor or traumatologist to find out for sure.Once this is done, or in cases where it is not a traumatic injury, but rather a discomfort, pulled muscle or possible tendinitis, I recommend going to the physiotherapist. Doctors tend to be excessively cautious in their recommendations, giving you complete rest for months. When the current scientific consensus agrees that this is not optimal.The physio will know how to treat your problem so that it heals faster, he will know how to tell you what exercises you can do to improve the injury and prevent it from recurring and he will also be able to advise you on what exercises that involve other muscle groups or joints you can trainso that you do not have to keep absolute rest. Both in my personal experience, and based on current evidence, I believe that a visit to the physio is enough, in most cases you do not need to continue going week after week. I would only recommend continued visits in cases of old injuries that have become chronic and in specific cases of rehabilitation.