Training whilst injured – Why Not!

 

I recently had shoulder surgery which turned out better than expected in that although the long head of biceps tendon was torn it was still three quarters attached and the labrum (fibrocartilage) appeared fine so basically all I had done was a subacromial decompression –  a clean-up.

The surgery was performed on a Wednesday and I was doing cardio 2 days later, trained legs 4 days post operation and this morning I trained chest and triceps.

 

            Most people would say that I am mad!

Well not really, I learnt years ago that if you tell an athlete to stop training they just will not listen to you and therefore risk aggravating the injury but informing them to train around it is a different matter.

What do I mean by this?

OK so if your sport involving running such as in rugby or football and you have a low back or leg injury which means you are unable to run, you can do non weight bearing exercises in order to keep your fitness up such as cycling, the cross trainer or swimming.

I had shoulder surgery but I can still train legs – ok not squatting but I can use machines such as the leg press, leg extension, leg curl and seated calf raise. I even train upper body but use my left side only as the pictures show.

As the saying goes, “where there is a will, there is a way” so get out there and train and before you know it you will be back to full peak fitness!It is also good to have some expect rehabilitation treatment so as not to push too far too soon, so if you need any advice look us up at www.joylaneclinic.co.uk