LeBron James rarely misses a game due to injury. He also spends an estimated 1.5 million on healthcare every year. Connor McDavid had a round-the-clock multidisciplinary team helping him recover from a PCL tear (major knee injury) last year. I’m not saying we all have that kind of care accessible — financially or physically — but think about how and why they do it. Think about the time and effort these athletes put into their sports and bodies. They’re experts, and they seek regular help.
Conquer Everyday Stressors
Don’t expect to function at the best of your ability in whatever you’re doing without some assistance from others along the way. In the healthcare world, you don’t have to be an athlete to benefit from what I consider maintenance care. This could be physiotherapy, chiropractor care, a nutritionist, psychologist, personal trainer, etc. Writing as a physiotherapist, those other professions are outside my scope of practice, so I’ll stick to what I know best. Every day demands are placed on your system: sitting for hours at work, typing on the computer, picking up your kids to play…the list goes on. These demands put stress on your muscles, ligaments, joints and nervous system; but they can be (at least partially) mitigated. Through regular manual work, movement training and/or modality based therapy, you can help un-do and reset your body for the future to perform better. In life, work, sport, and everything inbetween.
Perform Better & Prevent Injury
If you are an athlete, this is especially important for you. Chances are you’ve pushed past your limits once or twice. To the point where you know you shouldn’t be playing that game, going for that 10km run, or attending practice at the risk of an injury, but you do it anyways. Sometimes, the risk is worth the reward…sometimes it’s not. But what if you could decrease the risk altogether? Yes, you can do this taking typical safety percautions (wear a helmet, etc.) but there’s a lot more you can do than that. And it might even make you perform better at the same time.
Take care of yourself, train your sport or for life, and have a professional work with you so that your body functions optimally as a system. Pushing through pain and then seeking help is such an old school train of thought. Move well now so that your body is more resilient to unpredictable movements when they inevitably happen. If your tissue is adaptable and able to transfer energy appropriately through your body as a system, it is less likely that force from unpredictable movements or even repetetive safe patterns will cause load that leads to injury. Working with a physiotherapist, or similar, will help teach your muscles, joints and nervous system to move efficiently and effectively for your specific goal. As humans, we develop movement habits in life and sport; teaching your tissues to move in a variety of ways and adapt the way you want will help prevent injuries from occurring. And this is an ongoing process. We are living beings, constantly modifying to our environment and physical and mental circumstances, so our bodies continuously change. This means regular care is necessary if you want to continue to feel good and perform at your best. Your body deserves it — it is the only one you’ve got.
While we can help you recover and train to move better and more efficiently, unfortunately we can’t predict or prevent altogether accidents. So if you do get injured, don’t just follow a protocol for your rehab, PLEASE. Again, seek help from an expert who pays attention to you, and provides an individualized treatment plan for your goals. For my opionions on simply just a protocol as a treatment approach you can read my last article.
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