In the almost seven years BSP NOVA has existed, we’ve seen our fair share of people both overcoming injuries with success, as well as an unfortunate few that seem to be stuck in a cyclical pattern of re-injury. And while it’s easy to blame bad luck for the latter, there are real solutions we’ve seen work for the former. The best thing about them? The solutions are almost never complicated.
Today’s post will use a purely fictional character, Becky, to teach some real, applicable lessons.
Meet Becky
Becky joined BSP NOVA after finding herself in a rather unfortunate circumstance. She tore her ACL playing soccer—her FAVORITE sport—and it’s been a frustrating experience having to miss so much time on the field with her friends.
At the time she came in to the gym she’d been cleared by her physical therapist (PT) to introduce strength training, as she’d essentially regained full range-of-motion, but she wasn’t given the green light to get out and play yet. To say she was motivated would be the understatement of the century…
The first thing she did at BSP NOVA was come in for a 1-on-1 assessment and goal-setting session with Chris. They started off the visit with a walk through the gym, familiarizing Becky with the training space and chatting about Julie, Becky’s friend that referred her to BSP after we worked with her and her PT to help her overcome a lower back injury and return to obstacle course racing.
B: I’ve seen how well Julie is doing, so I’m all ears, I’ll do whatever you say. With the weather finally getting warm and seeing all of my friends out there playing, I’m raring to go!
C: Julie has been awesome to work with, and it’s been so great to see her get back to racing with success! She started right here, just like you are now, and I’m confident you’ll be back out there playing soccer successfully as well. Today’s session will get the wheels in motion to make your comeback. We’ll collect some background information about your medical, health, injury, and training history, look at stress, sleep, and personality, go over your goals, get clear on our expectations of each other, and then do a simple movement assessment—all to help us put you in the best positions to be successful, both in the gym and out.
Becky returned to the gym the day after the 1-on-1 assessment and goal-setting session for her personal orientation session. She was introduced to the warm-ups, she learned how to squat, deadlift, do proper push-ups, and rows, and the coaches made sure she felt ready to hit the ground running (well, you know what we mean) on her first day of training.
From there, she showed up, did the work that was written specifically for her, and checked in with her PT periodically to make sure everything was on track.
Were there ups and downs? Of course! Some days Becky felt like crap and questioned whether she’d really be able to get back on the field again. But through the flexibility of her programming here and the dialogue between her coaches and PT, we made adjustments as needed and hit the benchmarks that we were all looking for, which ultimately contributed towards Becky getting back on the field with success…
But Injuries Need More Than PT and Strength Training
While PT and strength training are a REALLY important part of overcoming injuries, Becky needed to get more specific with her preparation. Let’s think for a second about what goes into the sport of soccer…
- Running/Jogging/Walking
- Sudden change of direction
- Jumping
- Physical contact
- Kicking
- Sliding
- …
As a result of her injury, her training had to start with a very predictable environment and approach, and progress back towards the chaos of sport. And therein lies one of the biggest mistakes we’ve seen some people make over the years:
You can’t rush the process.
Well, actually you CAN rush the process, but you won’t like the outcome. It is very tempting to think,
I’m feeling great, let’s get out there and play!
But be prepared for a cycle of disappointment and “bad luck.”
You have to prepare.
Becky started in physical therapy immediately after surgery. It was there that she worked to regain range-of-motion, introduce basic strengthening, and start the process of getting back on the field—but that wasn’t the next step…
Her physical therapist recommended working with BSP NOVA, initially overlapping with both. Her PT regularly communicated with us to make sure we were all on the same page with her recovery.
The training started off with basic core strengthening, squats, deadlift, lunges—and of course upper body training as well—and over time progressed to rotational work, med ball throws, jumps, running, predictable change of direction, … and, with time, an element of chaos (unpredictability) was introduced to her higher level strength and conditioning.
Okay, now she’s ready, right?
Not quite yet. Becky began to overlap her training with some basic, individual skills practice—dribbling, passing, kicking, etc., which led to practicing skills on the field with a friend.
The next step for Becky was to take part in team practices—slowly taking part in more and more over time.
Practice led to partial games.
Partial games led to whole games.
Whole games eventually led to a successful weekend tournament.
Success!
Becky’s Luck
Luck? She practiced patience, followed a well-designed plan put together by a team of people with her best interests in mind, and ultimately gave her body time to heal and re-acclimate to the demands of playing soccer. If that’s luck, then yeah, she’s lucky.
And if you’re finding yourself in a position like Becky—injured, frustrated, and unsure of what to do next—know that it’s not going to be an overnight process. But with the right team behind you, a little patience, and diligent, progressive action, you can get back out there too.
