How to reframe an injury as a POSITIVE experience!

Welcome to this week’s newsletter…

Injuries are not fun at all, particularly the nasty ones.

If you’re an athlete or a sports person, it can mean time out and worrying if it will affect your performance.

There’s often a negative impact on our mental health that comes with injuries too.

Injuries can mean time off work, and chronic injuries can sometime effect a persons working life indefinitely…

However, I firmly believe that an injury offers valuable learning opportunities. 

There are 3 areas in particular where we can CHOOSE to learn and grow and these are:

• Mindset and mental strength.

• Deepening understanding of our own bodies.

• Learning new exercises, variations and training methods.

We will look at each one a little closer now…

Mindset and mental strength…

Those that recover well will often have certain key traits (others may need to cultivate some).

These are the following:

Patience - Healing can take time, and a patient mindset helps manage expectations and limits frustration.

Resilience - The ability to stay strong and overcome setbacks without giving up.

Optimism - A realistic belief that things can and will improve with effort, even if progress is slow or nonlinear.

Self awareness - Understanding your body’s signals, knowing when to push and when to rest, and recognising emotions like fear or frustration if they arise.

Trust - Confidence in the process, the people helping you, and your own ability to improve is crucial for following through with rehab or training plans.

Motivation - A clear "why" (for example, playing with grandkids, returning to a sport) helps us stay consistent when it feels tough.

There are other important traits that can be also developed and these are:

A growth Mindset - Believing that you can improve with effort helps reframe setbacks as part of the learning process.

Self compassion - Learning to treat yourself kindly when things don’t go perfectly helps long term adherence and consistency.

Mindfulness - Staying present and calm during movement or pain episodes can reduce anxiety and improve recovery outcomes.

Emotional Regulation - Developing the ability to calm yourself when anxious or frustrated can reduce the mental burden of injury.

Adaptability - Being able to shift goals, routines, or expectations as needed helps maintain momentum.

It goes without saying that all the traits above are super valuable for ALL situations that life throws at us.

Better understanding of our bodies…

We have all been at fault for ignoring little exercise aches and pains when they arise.

We can also blindly push through certain exercises and routines that seem to keep causing irritation.

Once something leads to an injury or you experience the longterm issues from injury, your approach begins to change.

You start listening to your body more and you stop ignoring those warning signals.

You become open to learning more, and more open to seeking help and advice from people who can help you.

Nobody wants to go backwards once they have recovered and healed, and why would they?

Learning new exercises and training methods…

From my own experience, my back injury started (a lifelong) dive into spine care, back health and attending several courses and seminars.

Every time you go to see a trainer, physio or therapist they will give you exercises to work on, or may direct you towards other methods (pilates for example).

More often than not you learn skills and exercises and add tools to your tool box for life.

Even if you had a negative experience or a particular treatment didn’t work, it’s a lesson learned and you keep seeking the right approach.

I have met people that are not trainers or formally educated, but have expert knowledge in a certain field simply because of their own extensive experiences.

They took it upon themselves to learn so they could help themselves.

To wrap up…

While injuries are not fun, try to reframe it as a process of discovery and learning about your own body.

What you learn could end up serving you for the rest of your life.

And not just with exercise, but other areas of your life too.

If you would like to know more about working with me and have any follow up questions.

Reach out to me on LinkedIn, OR email me personally at [email protected].

An assessment is the best way to plan the most effective AND safe training program for you moving forwards.

For now thanks for reading today, and stay tuned for the next edition of Train For Life next Saturday!

Daryl