We start today's email with a bit of a story coming in from one of my online clients:
"OK a quick addition to the last email...I watched the Simone Biles documentary series, Rising, last night on Netflix (I admire her so much as an athlete and an example of mental strength) ................
........in the qualifiers for the finals at the Olympics, she tore her calf on the first day. And it was clearly sore because she was CRAWLING back from her first vault and then was hopping on one leg so she didn't have to put weight on it. And they talked to her medical team and they strapped her up and her coach said to her,
"Well, you know, you have the pain and the pain is there but you also have the readiness, you are ready, you know this so you can still do it".
And she KEPT GOING and did that fierce run up they do to do her second vault and SPRUNG on that sore leg on the platform and did her vault, and did it perfectly. reach."
I haven't watched the series yet, it is on my watchlist and I will get to it, especially after the above email (the full email is longer, I cut it down for privacy and brevity)
This raises a number of points.
Pain does not necessarily mean injury
Injury does not always bring pain
Pain is extremely personal
A person has a degree of choice as to how much they listen to pain
Ignoring pain is the right thing to do sometimes, and very wrong other times.
We all need heroes to look up to, but not necessarily emulate
Lets start with the last one, as that's the easiest.
As a man of a certain age, I grew up through the 80's an 90's, it was the golden era of action heroes on screen and in real life.
We has Arnie, Stallone, Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Jackie Chan, Hulk Hogan, Big Daddy, the recently deceased Geoff Capes, the original series of Gladiators (Wolf, Jet etc) and so many more huge characters, with huge muscles doing larger than life magic on the TV screens.
Yeah, some were actors acting, others were sports stars, and they were all heroes.
In fact, I'd been on a binge of martial arts flicks, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and the Karate Kid just before I took up Karate myself.
I related to the Karate kid, so that got me going.
Watching these on screen heroes helps shape you, helps you develop your psyche, your drive. Helps you figure out what you will and will not accept about yourself in your own life.
And the training montages.
If you're of a certain age and your hair doesn't stand up on the back of your neck whenever you hear "Heart on Fire"........
Modern heroes are the likes of Biles.
This unique little powerhouse of a human being has earned her legendary status.
And the struggle pointed out in the paragraphs above show just how much a hero has to push themselves to achieve legendary status.
One of my all time heroes is Steve Redgrave, the rower. His autobiography is almost frightening reading about how much he putt himself through in the face of the chronic illnesses he had to battle.
It shows how much real strength is a in between the ears.
It's not the size of the muscles, but the heart, the spirit.
So what about pain?
All these heroes, fictional or real, show us how we can push through pain. We can choose to let pain take control, or we can take control of the pain.
Is what Biles did healthy?
Is it something we ought to look to replicate?
That is totally contextual.
Biles was at the Olympics, so yeah, it's all out, no holding back. As her coach pointed out, she was ready,
She also, and don't misinterpret this, does a power sport where most of the activities last seconds. As opposed to hours. Duration matters.
What we do learn from our heroes is that we have agency over our bodies.
We know that we can work through pain so long as we perceive benefit.
When I have athletes and clients coming to me for injury rehab, we have to find context, we have to work out how the pain is perceived and how much the person will or will not tolerate pain.
Some, especially those of us with traditional martial arts backgrounds, will almost tolerate too much.
Others, will stop at the first twinge.
And while pain is incredibly complex, I do like helping people try to understand that is merely a warning (it's way more than that, but it's a good start point)
A warning to stop doing something, or to move away from something.
Pain in the calf will send your weight over to the other leg and you'll limp. Pain in the shoulder will stop you lifting your arm.
But to get back to centre
To get back to performance
To get back to a body that moves well and is pain free, we may have to work into the pain somewhat, to reduce the perceived need for a warning.
Assuming any structural damage is healed, the calf tear has resolved, then any pain is now just a warning signal that serves no further purpose.
Now that is a big assumption, but bones heal in around 6 weeks, muscle faster, ligaments slower, but once healed, pain should no longer be needed.
Now we very often need to work on movement and how the body perceives safety.
This may involve a little pain.
But we have agency.
We can listen to the body, we can decide of the pain is just pain or if there is an injury present.
We can choose to lie down and stop
Or we can become our own hero and get out and work on the things we can still work on, while getting on with our rehab.
It's simple, but not easy
But it's why I'm here, I will help you.
It's a line I've walked many times myself and many times with clients.
--
Regards
Dave Hedges
Comments