After an Injury:
Getting Your Moves Back
By Kim Cottrell
It’s an old, familiar story. You were injured while walking or running, and you’ve never been able to get back out there. Whatever the reason for your inactivity, there are just as many reasons why it’s important to overcome the inertia that has you caught in stillness.
Mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional health — each involves movement. Each requires a flowing through us, a clearing of stagnations, and a removal of toxins, similar to the water that flushes out the body. If you dream of getting off the couch, consider the following three strategies.
Overcome Inertia
Humans are subject to the law of inertia: The principle that a body at rest remains at rest, and a body in motion remains in motion. Maybe you’ve noticed in the past that once you were well into a training routine, it was much easier to sustain that level of activity.
Likewise, after an injury, when stillness sets in, staying still is easier than getting moving again. In the stillness, don’t you cling to the reasons for why you don’t return to activity? Regardless of the reason, stillness is debilitating. Yes, we need balance in our hectic lives, but basically, we need movement in order to live.
Create New Rituals
Getting off the couch signals a new beginning. It involves your ability to say, “I don’t care how far I get, but I need to go somewhere, even if it’s around the block or to the coffee shop.”
The new ritual is often the process of familiarization to a new activity. It takes time and patience and will be best enjoyed if you can relax, knowing you’ll be challenged. Many people don’t make the shift to a new activity because it doesn’t feel right. Instead, it’s easier to stay with the old sport and struggle with the pain or discomfort. But if the goal is to get moving, then it doesn’t matter how fast you go or how expert you are, only that you get moving.
Recently, my neighbor and I went jogging. Even though she hadn’t run in over a year, she paced herself and found comfort in a familiar routine. I struggled. I’m a walker, not a runner, and I had an uncomfortable and unfamiliar time. Since then, I have experimented with changing my walking habits. As I walk the dog, I alternate one block of jogging with one block of walking. I’m getting more and more familiar with the pace and the feeling of jogging, and I’m actually starting to like it.
And, if you feel that you’re cheating because you aren’t working hard enough, consider all the ways you’re used to pushing yourself. Consider that your old habit of pushing until you hurt was actually working against you. Maybe it’s time to pay more attention, sooner, and finish in a comfortable way, unhurt and ready for another workout the next day.
Start Gradually
In our society, we want more and we want it now. In other words, if one cookie is good, a dozen is better. So when most of us set out to resume an exercise program, we overdo it. Rather than working our way into it slowly and gradually, we immediately resume running three miles because we’ve always run three miles. It’s a belief that says, “Since we did it in the past, we should be able to do it now.”
Instead of approaching it that way, what if you start by doing only a little bit? Then gradually do a little bit more, and then gradually add another little bit.
Consider this the homeopathic way to build exercise into your routine. Little by little, you can progress from walking to the car to one day walking to work. Walking creeps into your life, and finally you’re moving. When you reach the point of walking a little bit every day, suddenly you don’t have to work as hard to keep it going, and you can walk farther and stronger and faster.
Anyone can return to a level of activity that promotes the fullness of health. In the process of getting there, maybe you need to let go of your old habits. When you let go, you make room for the new ritual, the new beginning. You can use your innate ability to notice and to learn new things and rediscover your joy in moving, feeling, and living with very little effort — once you are in motion.
Kim Cottrell,MS, is a certified Feldenkrais™ practitioner and speech pathologist. She can be reached at 503-890-6865 or visit www.kimcottrell.com. |
