WHY YOUR INJURY IS LIKE THE STOCK MARKET

Recovering from an injury never goes fast enough or smoothly enough. You will never say “I got better too quickly from that ankle sprain”. The process of recovering from an injury can be long, frustrating, and there are a lot of ups and downs. This is why it’s a lot like how you save for retirement. Your financial advisor will always tell you that you need to take the long view and to not get caught up in how the stock market is doing on a particular day. As long as you make consistent progress then you’ll reach your retirement goal. Getting back to full strength after your injury needs the same approach. You might have good days and bad days, but as long as you’re making consistent progress you will make it back to where you were before and hopefully even better.

UPS AND DOWNS

Very rarely will your recovery from an injury go perfectly smooth. In an ideal world, every day you will feel better than the last and be able to do more. In reality, there will be good days where you feel better, and bad days where you feel worse. Instead of looking at your progress on a daily basis, try to think of recovery over a longer period of time. Are you feeling better this week than last week? Are you more active this month than last month? If you try to think about your progress on a daily basis, you will drive yourself crazy. Just like if you look at the stock market on any given day, it can be up or down. That particular day isn’t a sign of a good or bad investment strategy. Sometimes, having more pain on a given day can actually be a sign of progress. If you start to do more you and you are recovering well, you should be starting to push your limits on what you are able to do and get back to. As you get back, you might do a little more than you were ready for and your pain gets worse for a few days. It’s not the end of the world! It just means that you were on the right track and went back a little too quickly. As long as you were making consistent progress, keep on that path and keep working at it.

HOW LONG WILL THIS TAKE?

One of the most frustrating and scary parts about an injury or pain is not knowing how long it will take to recovery. There are many factors that go into this: how severe your injury was, your activity level, your overall health, stress, sleep, etc. Speaking to a physical therapist who is familiar with your injury can be a major help in finding some peace of mind and getting an idea of how long it might take. By taking all of these factors into account, your physical therapist will be able to guide you on what you can expect for your recovery. Taking the long term approach is important. Of course you want to recover as quickly as possible, but addressing why your injury occurred is just as important. Just like when you invest for the future, you want to take an approach that gives you the best long term outcome. If you don’t take the time to fix what caused the injury in the first place, it can lead to more injuries and pain in the future.

The next time you’re going through an injury recovery, keep the stock market in mind. Try not to get too frustrated by short term increases in pain and always take the long term approach to your health.

If you’re not sure how long your injury might take to heal or if you’re not sure if you’re on the right track, contact us to speak with one of our physical therapists. Either email us at info@districtperformancephysio.com or click here to schedule one of our free Discovery Sessions.