How To Get Through a Bad Injury Part I – Faith and Positive Thinking
[Once you've read this, you can check out Part II here]
For those of you who know me or have read the about section of this blog, you are aware that both my knees were badly injured while training in a special unit in the IDF as a combat medic. Interestingly, the hardest thing for me was not my temporary inability to walk, but my fear that I would never in the future be able to walk pain-free. For the first time, I knew that sheer motivation and willpower would not alone be enough to pull me through. I had hit a brick wall, and I was in a depression.
The worst part about getting injured, especially when it’s a complicated injury, is the mental frustration that comes as a result of the injury. You don’t see any solution, you’re in pain, you can’t do the things that you used to be able to do and no one around you can quite understand your situation. So you give up. You dose up on painkillers and creams, you take the pain, you write off ever doing the things you loved to do, and you throw away your health. You know you’re making a mistake, but you’re in too much pain to really care and no one seems to be able to help you anyway.
The biggest mistake you can make when it comes to getting a bad or complicated injury is to write yourself off. There is always, and today more than ever, something that can be done. No matter how bad it is, or how bad your chances of healing are according to the “experts” that you see, there is always something that can be done to help you recover. That’s right, 100% of the time there’s something that can be done to help you be on your way to recovery. They say that God does not create a problem without creating a solution, and I sincerely believe it. We just have to find it.
As this blog progresses, with God’s help I plan on writing more and more about innovations in the medical field, nutritional information that can help you heal and that you need to know, and about maintaining your fitness and getting back into shape while healing from an injury. That being said, the first thing we need to establish is that whatever happened to you, you can improve. You will improve and you will be pain-free again. Once you’re mentally prepared to get better, you’ve already won 90% of the battle and are ready to learn and prosper from new medical advancements.
Like Rocky Balboa says, “It ain’t how hard you can hit. It’s how hard you can get hit and keep movin’ forward. How much you can take and keep movin’ forward. That’s how WINNIN’ is done.”
I often find that I sometimes tend to push myself too much, and make my injuries worth. I agree that there is always something that can be down to help alleviate the pain, but I also think that one of the remedies involves rest. It took me a long time to realize that if you push an injury too hard, you’re only going to make it worse.
Tyler,
I absolutely agree that for all injuries, the first response has to be to get off of it! What I was discussing here is the more complicated and chronic injuries that are past the initial rest stage. Chronic and complicated injuries require an open mind to new medical innovations and a lot of mental determination in order to work through them.
Hope you enjoy the site!
-Rafi