In a perfect world, no one would suffer from injuries or chronic pain. Unfortunately that is not the case. At Titanium Performance, one of our main goals is to prevent injuries via strength training. As personal trainers, we see our fair share of pain and injuries due to situations out of our control like a fall or car accident. Pain and injuries can completely derail you from your goals, activities you enjoy, and cause overall frustration with your body. Luckily, most pain and injuries can be relieved through physical therapy combined with personal training!
Educated and experienced personal trainers have a basic understanding of how pain and injuries affect your normal strength training routine. In a lot of cases, adjustments can be made to your workouts to avoid the injured area if it needs rest. Trainers can also find the right exercises to promote blood flow to the injured area to promote healing without making the pain worse. If the pain or injury continues to get worse or not improve, it’s probably a good time to see a doctor and get the issue diagnosed. Personal trainers cannot make a diagnosis, but once informed of a diagnosis, can adjust your workouts appropriately to keep you working towards your goals. You shouldn’t stop your whole exercise program because of pain or injury to one area of your body.
Getting Diagnosed with an Injury
Every person’s injury or chronic pain is unique to the individual but getting diagnosed usually goes something like this: You will go see your doctor and they may perform a few different physical examinations. After that, they will determine if you should be referred directly to physical therapy or if you need to get imaging. As long as you don’t have a serious injury that would require immediate surgery, a cast, etc., you’ll probably be referred to physical therapy. If you do require surgery or immobilization, you will need physical therapy later in your recovery. If you’ve been to physical therapy, you know that your experience and results vary. Some of the variability depends on the injury, quality of therapist, and adherence to homework exercises. Results also vary depending on your activity outside of physical therapy.
Personal Training with an Injury
Research shows that continuing to strength train the areas around an injury will help heal it. You should continue strengthening the rest of your body to prevent other injuries or compensation patterns. A compensation pattern develops when you begin to favor one area of the body and force another area to take on the work. This causes an even greater muscle imbalance and can cause future injuries or pain. Working with a knowledgeable trainer outside of physical therapy will ensure the rest of your body stays healthy as you rehab the injured area. One example of this may be training only one arm if the opposite arm is immobilized for the duration of the injury. Another example may be training the lower body with an upper body injury. Each person’s recovery is unique to their injury and recovery program.
At Titanium Performance, we prefer to communicate directly with your physical therapist or health professional if we are able to. This ensures we are all on the same page and you recover faster. If we are unable to communicate directly, we can analyze your recovery program and compliment it with our strength training techniques. We always have your best interest in mind and want you back to your healthy self as quickly as possible!
Have you been experiencing chronic pain or an injury? Want to learn how we can help? Try a FREE introductory session with a Titanium Performance Trainer!
Written By: Morgan (Maule) Maley
