Ten Essential Habits for Overcoming Injury
This weekend (August 13) will mark the one-year anniversary of the car-on-bike crash that nearly ended my life. During my recovery many folks have asked me to share what I learned. So I offer to you this list of Essential Habits in the hopes that it may offer some light in your moments of uncertainty.
What were the key factors that contributed to my recovery from traumatic injury?
How did I maintain a positive mindset throughout my journey?
Resist the urge to take out your pain on the people around you.
No matter how kind and loving a person you may be, maintaining your grace in moments of intense pain is a deep practice in patience. Pain can be heavy and distracting. It can bring out feelings of hostility and self-absorption, paralyzing the mind in thoughts of “anything to make it stop.”
But in focusing on and studying intently the precise sensations of your pain, the mind is able to come to the realization that pain is not deadly. It holds no sway over survival - it is only useful as a messenger between brain and body. Injuries that are being properly treated sometimes still create pain, in fact pain is often part of the healing process. I experienced this firsthand when recovering from a traumatic cycling accident.
I also experienced firsthand that I could retain my power over pain. I could still choose each day to live in alignment with my values; to greet people by with their names, to treat them with loving kindness, to say “thank you” all the time. Even through gritted teeth, I reserved the power to be the person I chose to be and treat people the way I would want to be treated.
This made way for deep connections with my nurses, quality time spent with my visiting family, and made space for meaningful conversations in my hospital room. By taking control over my relationship with pain, I was able to convert a terrible accident into an opportunity for personal growth.
Within your limitations, be active by day and restful by night.
The delicate balancing act between activity and rest is applicable to every aspect of life. It’s importance is amplified when recovering from injury.
Staying active during the day benefits the healing body by circulating body fluids and re-activating muscles. Physical rehabilitation is hard work for an injured body, but it is the only path back to Ability and Independence.
But you can only work at your best if you are resting adequately.
Deep sleep crucially boosts creation of growth hormones, stimulating muscle and tissue repair. It maintains proper brain chemistry and function, helping to regulate emotions through tough times.
And so activity and rest are directly linked. During rehab you’ll want to safely challenge yourself with daily activities in order to make yourself tired enough to sleep well at night. During my rehab stage I jumped at the opportunity to tidy my room and reclaim self-care habits like showering and brushing my hair. Keeping myself busy between scheduled meals and physical therapy sessions helped me to create a sense of normalcy. It gave meaning to my days.
Prioritize protein in your diet to support muscle regeneration.
Muscle wasting is a real threat after injury, especially when immobilization is required for healing. The body will need to work hard to rebuild muscle tone when activity is permitted. In order to do so it will need ample dietary protein to synthesize and repair muscle and tissue cells.
During my physical rehabilitation I supplemented my diet with protein drinks every morning. Even when I couldn’t stomach a meal, I could happily drink a chocolate protein drink. This was a nutritional game changer for me, one habit that I continued even after graduating from physical therapy. Lean protein made it possible for me to regain 20+ pounds of muscle in nine months of rehab (which included resistance training 4x per week).
Nutrition should be a central focus for all people rehabilitating from injury.
You can easily calculate your nutritional needs with a simple online macronutrients calculator.
Avoid any activity that poses unnecessary risk to your healing body.
There comes a point in physical rehab at which you start to question the limitations imposed by the doctor’s instructions.
My advice: don’t do it.
Don’t do things your doctor would not approve of. Don’t risk reinjury when you are working so hard towards recovery.
Many people push themselves past what is safe, eager to return to pre-injury strength and independence. But it’s not worth it.
There is no shame in needing help. There is strength in knowing when and how to ask for help.
This came up for me when I finally returned home after two months of recovering in medical facilities. I moved from being supported by nurses 24/7 to spending all day alone while my partner was at work. The simplest of tasks at home (like making lunch) posed risks for me as I struggled to use crutches walking from room to room in our apartment. Showering was a major challenge for me, as I couldn’t step high enough to safely enter and exit our shower bathtub, and could not stand long enough to wash my hair. In fact it was safer for me to shower in the handicap shower at my gym, but I had to be very careful of slipping on the tile while crutching to and from the handicap shower bench.
The solution was modifying my living space and lifestyle. To simplify my meal prep experience, I incorporated microwavable meals high in protein so that I could still hit my nutritional goals while spending the minimum amount of time “cooking”. I purchased a few household conveniences to make moving around the space easier. I stayed completely focused on exercise, nutrition, and self-care. Everything else was saved for moments when I had help from loved ones.
My point is that protecting yourself from re-injury is a CRUCIAL part of the healing process. Take whatever steps are necessary to make things easier on yourself. It will be worth it in the long run.
Listen to your physical therapist: do your exercises religiously. Ask for exercises you can do in the gym to level up - and then go do them.
Your physical therapist is not a magician. They cannot wave a wand and fix all of your problems.
Only you can take responsibility for your own recovery timeline.
For this reason, I recommend doing all of the exercises your PT assigns you. Do them as often as you can.
Resistance training will help immensely with rebuilding muscle. If you are not well versed in weightlifting, ask your physical therapist for exercises you can do in the weightroom. Get yourself a gym membership. Take pride in your journey and revel in the opportunity to build yourself back up from square one. Take back your power.
You CAN determine your own physical destiny. You CAN regain your pre-injury strength. You CAN become even stronger and more fit after recovering from injury. Take ownership of your story - turn misfortune into an opportunity for self-improvement.
Take time to yourself, revel in the privilege of your downtime.
Hear me out - There can be silver linings to being injured.
Sometimes the best part of being injured is finally having all the downtime you could never seem to find. Downtime gets a bad wrap as being boring.
But it also makes space for hobbies and socializing. It can be the spark you needed to reconnect with creativity or meet new people.
Rather than focusing on what you can’t do, try something that you have always wanted to do.
After my accident, I was unable to ride a bike outside for several months. I utilized the time I would have spent riding by diving into community activism. I attended BikeWalkRVA’s Academy for local bike/pedestrian advocacy. I tried new recipes in the kitchen and spent more time journaling.
Time off the bike allowed me to re-commit to a weekly studio yoga class rather than always practicing solo. I read books, learned new things, and delved deep into a different sport (swimming).
I share this to hopefully inspire you to use your downtime productively - it makes all the difference in maintaining a positive mindset.
Explore alternative healing modalities. Research your injuries, crowdsource ideas.
Physical rehabilitation is not an exact science. In fact, despite the advancements in modern medicine, there is still plenty that we don’t understand.
Each individual will have a totally unique experience recovering from injury - even two people with the same injuries will heal differently.
For this reason, I encourage you to be your own advocate and research your own condition extensively. If there is a treatment method that is safe, accessible to you, and possibly effective, you should try it. Non-traditional healing methodologies can be game-changing.
For me, this was the case with dry needling. No doctor ever even mentioned dry needling as a treatment option. It was my physical therapist who suggested I give it a try. I was skeptical at first because I likened it to acupuncture, which I dabbled in unsuccessfully in the past. But I was wrong.
Dry Needling turned out to be the most effective treatment for rehabilitating my surgical scar tissue and severed muscles. Over the course of 6 months, my physical therapist applied dry needles with electronic stimulation at the beginning of every PT session. The E-Stim helped me to regain sensation in places where surgical incisions had caused nerve damage and numbness. I was able to re-learn how to activate my left glute muscles, in spite of having them cut wide open for my orthopedic pelvis repair. While the needle pricks were slightly unpleasant, I found the discomfort to be worthwhile. After each treatment I could feel marked improvement in my muscle recruitment.
Deep fascial massage was another greatly helpful modality that I researched my way into. After my first massage treatment I noticed improved range of motion in the tissues surrounding my surgical incisions. Increased ROM allowed for more effective resistance training in the gym, and ultimately paved the way for increased muscle rehabilitation.
Set realistic (not optimistic) goals.
Call me crazy - but I firmly believe that taking time to intentionally set goals is just as important as actually achieving those goals.
Over the years I have developed the ritual of setting SMART goals every January 1 for the year ahead. This practice of sitting down and analyzing what I want to achieve is crucial to using my time and energy wisely. But the framework of the SMART goals methodology is the real secret sauce, in particular the requirement of goals being Achievable and Relevant.
When recovering from injury, we are often given a doctor’s guidelines on physical limitations. It is important that we also set personal goals for our own healing. But be intentional about these goals, because they shape pathway forwards. Goals make sense when they are possible to achieve, but also when they are compatible with the new (post-injury) reality.
For example, my pelvic surgeon initially told me that I would not be able to walk for 12 weeks. This was a realistic goal because it was based on what was possible to achieve. It gave me something to work towards without tempting me to test my limits. It was not an optimistic goal because it was not based on what we hoped would be the best-case scenario. Dr. Satpathy encouraged me to consider the long-term health of my hip sockets when setting my physical goals. Running (and by extension triathlon) may never again be a relevant goal for my body, which is emotional and hard to accept, but ultimately it will be okay.
Because accepting the truth of what is different post-injury is part of the healing process.
Learning to set new goals in light of what has happened keeps the mind focused on the positive.
At my 8 week follow-up appointment Dr Satpathy gave me permission to walk, a month ahead of schedule. By keeping my head down and working hard, I blew the expectations out of the water. The realistic goal gave me a framework and kept me focused.
Maintain a growth mindset.
Having a growth mindset is a powerful tool, like a Jedi mind trick for the average person. It allows you to approach each day with positivity and hope.
In short, a growth mindset is the outlook that no matter where you are today, improvement and growth are possible.
Growth mindset sees challenges as opportunities for personal development, and failures as springboards towards greater learning.
This is endlessly applicable to rehabilitation from injury. In moments tense with frustration and sadness, I invite you to see yourself as a work in progress. Remember that today is only today, and tomorrow has the potential to be better. Remember that you are not defined by what challenges you. Instead, you define yourself by the approach you take towards those challenges.
Adversity builds character. Hard times are the greatest opportunities to grow as a person, and to find your true purpose.
You only need keep your mind open to possibility.
Cultivate Gratitude with every breath.
Of all the suggestions I have to share with you, this is the one I hope you will remember best:
An attitude of gratitude will open the doors to the world.
Healing is not linear. Each day comes with its own physical and mental challenges. Sometimes things are harder than they should be. Sometimes the weight of misfortune feels too heavy to bear. But remember this: All things are workable.
No matter what happens, you will always have the choice to define yourself through your actions. This is greatest power that we possess: the power to choose our actions. There is nothing else in the world that we can control, only the way that we respond to and show up for others.
There is gratitude to be found in living life in alignment with your values.
There is gratitude to be found in each breath you are able to take.
There is gratitude to be found in each day that you are alive.
This gratitude can set you free. It can help you to find contentment with what you already have and who you already are.
This gratitude can heal even the deepest sadness.
Communally, gratitude can build deep connections between yourself and the people who care for you. We are not as independent as we believe ourselves to be. Even the strongest of people can find themselves dependent on the kindness of others.
But there is no shame in needing help, and there is strength in knowing when and how to ask for help.
Expressing your gratitude for that help will center you in the wholeness of your situation and your personhood.
You are not defined by your injuries or traumas. You are defined by how you choose to respond to them.
I hope these suggestions help you on the path towards rehabilitation. If you have more questions or would like to hear more about anything in particular, please drop me a line here: Contact
With Love, Natalie