Well done to anyone contemplating coming back from injury/surgery to get back into training and fitness.
There is usually a secret fear that you will do some sort of damage to a somewhat weaker part of the body and this can be quite confronting to deal with.
Allow me to explain a little about the BIGNESS (yes that is a word) or important role your THINKING and belief system has over your injury towards the healing process of your recovering body part.
First of all I have an extensive background working with people on the psychology of injury so I’m not just making this stuff up.
Your body is a slave to your thoughts.
It will observe your thoughts and act accordingly. So if you are constantly being cautious to the degree that you are looking at your KNEE (for example) and suggesting it can’t do something – then your knee will remain weak and obsolete. It’s as though you need to encourage your knee (or whatever) to work for you at getting better by thinking about it in a strong and positive light.
Look it may sound silly (talking to your knees) but you are already doing it. When you say I have a crook knee or bad back
I can’t do that – you are telling yourself you are incapable of doing something so the muscle components around that area switch off and get used less and less. This is why it hurts when you go to use it next time – because it’s weak and lacking confidence.
Then you say “SEE I told you I had a bad knee” – so you re-establish your beliefs even further and avoid using it even more. It’s a bit of a vicious cycle and of course you need to build the strength up gradually but the difference is doing it with confidence rather then trepidation which is based on fear.
The problem is people get all Gung-ho and say “Right power of positive thinking I will just pretend its good and go hard – force it into recovery!” NO that’s not what I am saying. Whilst a body part is healing – it takes time according to what you are eating, how old you are and the level of nutrients or healing power your body has (everyone is different) Plus your previous level of fitness will also help, however it still takes time and you need to allow the strength to come back gradually but always with confident thoughts of strength, ability and trust in yourself.
This works with any injury no matter how big or small. Five years ago I worked with a very well known first grade player in the NRL who had two surgeries on his spine and was told his likely hood of playing again was minimal. It took 12 months to get him on the field again BUT we were working on his belief system not the injury because without his belief that he could get stronger and fitter it wouldn’t matter if his back was better he would never risk the injury again by playing again. He is still playing today and doing well with a very strong back and no injuries to date from this past year.
Of course care needs to be taken but if you begin to have faith in your bodies ability to heal and become stronger then it will listen to you and obey.
Body builders are a perfect example of wanting to heal faster and stronger – they are constantly snapping there muscles so they repair stronger and stronger each time. Your body is designed to re-build stronger with every injury – the only reason it wouldn’t do that is if it has listened to command central (which is yout brain/thoughts) which says – oh be careful I can’t do that because of my bung (fill in blank).
As previously mentioned the factors that will help a speedy recovery is the nutrient factor and eating enough GOOD protein which is like a first aid kit for your body and lots of fresh real foods that are nutrient rich – if you can’t find the nutrient rich variety try some vitamin C, E & D which are all excellent for strong bones, healing power and re-growing tissue.
I will leave you with this little saying from a powerful little book by
James Allen titled: As You Think
Strong Pure and Happy thoughts build up the body in vigor and in grace,
The body is a delicate and plastic instrument and responds readily to the thoughts by which it is impressed,
and habits of thought will produce their own effects, good or bad, upon it.
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