Fear of injury

Anybody have any advice on coming back from injury.

A while ago I managed to twist my ankle and being an excitable beginner wanted to get back running as soon as possible, too soon as it turned out. The ankle went again after about a mile. The pain seems to have gone now but the fear of injury is making it mentally tough to get out there.

Any advice on getting back into running again without the setback of another injury. Not being able to go out is worse than the injury!

Mike

Comments

  • Hello Mike, well I'm no expert by any means, but maybe you should try some strengthening exercise at the gym before you get back into running fully. Some uphill treadmill walking maybe..? Ask the personal trainers at the gym if they can assist you with exercises to strengthen your ankles..this is assuming you belong to a gym!! If not, then maybe you should just ease yourself back into running very slowly...trying some walk/runs for a couple of weeks maybe? Good luck anyway..
    Michelle
  • Mike

    Walk before you run

    Start off by going out for walks - building up to 40 mins then move on from there. with a coupl of jog/walks. But don't overdo it if you feel pain back off or you will yust end up having more down time.

    To help maintain fittnes while down & out try some aqua-jogging at you local pool - you will look daft but it works.

    Bill
  • When I did my ankle in many years ago I was really lucky - the hospital has a really good sports injury department, and I got excellent advice, help, and have had no problems with it since.

    Ask your GP if the hospital has a sports injury clinic. If not, I think it really is worth while taking it to a physiotherapist. Seems like a lot of money at the time, and then you have no problems, so you think - I paid for nothing. Which is of course what you did. You paid for no problems. And with luck, that's what you'll get.

    I do remember at some stage in recovery playing on a wobble board, such as RW are offering in a draw to their subscribers club. I wouldn't want to say at what stage.

    Good luck!
  • When I was a teenager I twisted my ankle really badly (probably needed surgery, but as I come from a medicla household, this was deemed an unnecessary overreaction!) and the sports physio at our school gave me a huge thick rubber band type thingy that I would loop around the bottom of my foot and do ankle strengthening exercises with. As long as your injury isn't anything worse, i.e. torn ligaments, then a few strengthening exercises every day might help.

    Hild
  • your body is good at telling you when you are ready to go back. if it hurts alot, you are most likely not ready. be patient, as another injury can set you back even longer. but yes ankle strengthening exercises are great. i would also advise a thorough warm up of the ankle. I have suffered a very serious ankle fracture and dislocation and was unable to run for a 3 years, this is my advice as i can now run relatively well. good luck
  • It's good to know the difference between good, constructive pain and bad pain. Try stretching/rubbing the injured area to get to know your pain tolerance there and what the stretching feels like. If your pain just feels like the stretching pain during the run, that is just that body part getting used to that movement again. Any sharp or overbearing pain means you are pushing yourself too hard, and need to take it easy
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