Don't let a minor injury change your life, mood, body

A minor injury, as the saying goes, is an injury to someone else. When it is your knee, back, shoulder(yours truly), there is nothing trivial about it. Especially if the injury is keeping you from working out consistently for the first time in years.

I'm not exaggerating when i describe this injury as life-changing. It has changed my daily life, my mood, my body - and none of them for the better.

I'm losing my shape(whatever shape it was anyway). My appetite has waned somehow. My mood is down, not having experienced the euphora of having a shiok workout for months.

It is small comfort, that the experts say that, psychologically and physiologically, everything i am experiencing is typical and predictable. And there are ways to fight back.

'2 parts of your life have been disrupted' said Frances Flint, a sports pyschology consultant. 'That good feeling' from the workout itself is gone(see???), along with the 'my time' that is usually built into one's schedule, away from work other stresses.

So true. That simple joy of moving, of washing away the day's aggravation into a shower of sweat, has given way to longer sessions in front of my pc(blogging lor..like now). Gone as well is the camaradarie of tennis/badmintion sessions with my racket kakis.

Shawn Talbott, a nutrional biochemist, explains that there are 2 things occurring when we are suddenly deprived of exercise.

First, working out helps our bodies get rid of cortisol, a hormone we produce as a result of stress. When cortisol lingers in the bloodstream, it signals the brain to go looking for sweets, which produce the same sensation as exercise. Hence some people start craving for junk foods.

Second, exercise produces endorphins, the hormones that yield the 'runner's high'(to me, it'll be the player's high) and other pleasant feelings.

'You exercise and your get this hit of brain chemicals, and it makes you want to do it again and again and again', said Talbott. 'And, when you can't do it, we have people who literally get depressed'.

Flint said it is crucial to continue working out(ok, so i'm not wrong is going to the gym..) It is important, said Flint, to do this at the same time of the day that one used to work out. Overall, the effort will give 'the same biomechemical effect' as one's previous regime.

The other critical move, is to take control of the situation. Find out as much as you can about the injury and possible therapies(well, i tried accupuncture..)

Being actively involved in your care, instead of being a passive recipient of treatment. Banish 'negative self-talk'

Some athletes also like to visualise the affected area healing - they believe it speeds the process.


(The original article by Lenny Bernstien, appeared in ST, 29 Jan 11. It has been 'modified' to relate to my personal 2-months-and-counting shoulder injury)