Dealing with Injury

What do you do when injury strikes? Even with fantastic preparation and injury prevention techniques sometimes injury is unavoidable, especially in contact sports. The first thing is to establish the extent of the injury. If it's in any way serious it's usually necessary to see a specialist to diagnose the exact nature of the injury.

Follow the specialist's advice when it comes to rehabilitating the site of the injury but don't be afraid to ask questions. Ask for specific rehab advice and if the injury has been caused by overuse or poor training techniques ensure the underlying cause is also treated. Failing to make this sort of correction is only going to set you up to injure yourself again.

Once the exact nature of the injury is known and treatment proscribed you need to plan how to keep the rest of your training going. If you don't remain active and train the unaffected parts of your body you will fall behind. Not only will you be missing training during the rehab period but you will then spend more time just trying to catch up to your pre-injury level. This effectively doubles your injury time and pushes your ability to achieve your goals back much further.

You will most likely need to adjust your training plan during the rehab period. However if you remain active and continue along a similar training path you should still reach your goals in an acceptable time frame.