How To Pace Your Rehab In 5 Easy Steps
Has pain from an injury or surgery caused you increased stress, loss of sleep, disruption to your usual nutrition, decreased physical activity, and a swing in your emotions? Has this sudden change in your routine and activity level altered your body’s baseline? If so, you will need to find your new baseline and figure out how much activity load your body can handle, while minimizing risk of further injury.
Keeping up with or returning to your normal routine and activity level keeps you feeling like ‘you’, ‘whole’ and ‘normal; but so often, the fear of losing your fitness and activity level typically drives you to do too much too fast. A sudden ramp up in activity can end up leading to more time off in the long run. Try to track your slow ramp up and estimate the appropriate load and activity progression by using the 5 tips below:
Start with activities that you love most and your body is the most familiar with, prioritizing consistency over intensity.
Set goals and anticipate 10% progression per week.
Do extra work on your problem areas: weakness or lack of flexibility in a muscle group, swelling, pain, etc.
Continue to introduce yourself to alternative forms of exercise and activity modifications.
Pay extra attention to your nutrition, hydration, and sleep schedule.
Your journey (jour-knee) may be a little rocky with some ups and downs, but this will be a learning experience. You will build more familiarity and increase knowledge of your body so that you can use it to foresee and learn to avoid injury.
Now that you have 5 new ways to tackle this plateau in your rehab you still have two choices - quit and stay stuck or persevere and improve. Do not let these bumps in the road stop you dead in your tracks. Message us in your Keet Health app for support or just schedule a check in appointment. We’ll work through the lulls together!
Remember be patient with your healing and start over as many times as you need to.