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an injured old man
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2024
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If you are recovering from an injury, wouldn't physical therapy be the next step?
Yes, I Went to the physiotherapist who told me to exercise with the elastic band.
As someone a little older than you, who's dealt with chronic pain for 30+ years and despises the gym, I'm giving you some "tough love": you're just gonna have to do it. The trick I've found is to focus on what tomorrow will look like because of what I'm doing right now (those tedious physiotherapy exercises).
But, ease up on your self-criticism, you're clearly not able to do much right now, again, having "been there" for 30+ years, you simply can't force it, you must be patient and wait until you're recovered enough from the current thing.
A couple other things that have provided tremendous improvement:
Massage from a therapist that approaches it like physiotherapy. I've had a few therapists where it was challenging to get through a session (because it's painful, just like working out or physical therapy), but each visit I'd reach a new level of flexibility/mobility and reduced pain. Which I can then maintain with my own exercise.
Yoga. Because yoga provides both flexibility and strength training simultaneously, it can be very effective. You use one set of muscles to stabilize, while stretching their complement. It has an isometric element using your own bodyweight. This guy's story has been my inspritation for years now.. As bad off as I am, he started off way worse. He gives me hope. DDP's own story of coming to yoga is also inspirational, and most of his stuff is on YouTube.
Just remember that so much in life is about doing a little bit, repeatedly and regularly, not doing a lot at once. It's better to do 15 minutes of yoga once a day than going to the gym sporadically.
You got this, you can do it.
Edit: forgot to mention a Theragun. They may seem gimmicky, but I've seen first hand how effective they can be. Be careful of the knockoffs, some really suck so much it would make you think the whole idea is bunk. There are other brands that work, I just don't know which ones. You can get the Theragun mini on sale for about $100, it's at least a known quantity. If anyone knows a good knockoff, I'm all for spending less. Just the ones I've tried have sucked (though one massage therapist has a knockoff and it works fine).
Thanks a lot for your extensive message, good insight and kind words. I appreciate your advice. I've gave a look to theragun, but it's rather expansive, at least here in Europe. I'll check out also the channel.
Like in said, I'm all for a cheaper brand if you can find one that works well. They exist, I just don't know off hand which ones are good. I bought a knockoff, and it was so bad you would think the idea was bullshit.
At least the Theragun Mini (when in sale) is close to the same price as the good knock-off brands, and I'd say it's about 90% as good as the full size Theragun. Had I bought it first, I'd never bought the full size one.
A book I just discovered looks very promising: Back Mechanic by Stuart McGill, PhD. Lots of physical issues can be traced to our back issues, which are most often a result of other issues (weakness, injury, compensating, etc).
I know this is all a bit overwhelming and frustrating...boy do I get it - every morning I get it. But when you find the right thing for you, real improvement can happen, it's just damn hard keeping your head up and "going at it" every morning. As Barry Sears would say - you don't have to be perfect, just doing the right thing more often than not is key. Reward yourself whenever you do the right thing, forgive yourself when you miss-step.