The story I am about to share delves into the roller-coaster of a journey I have been through for most of my life. It is one that dives into the complexities of my state of mind when coping with health challenges like my life-long balance dealing with minor scoliosis as well as short-term injuries that take me out of regular training. As someone with a so-called Type "A" personality (being organized, obsessively writing goals/schedules, always wanting to push myself further, etc) I find dealing with injuries is significantly hard more so on my mind than my body. It's hard to tell myself the best way to heal from an injury is rest. Therefore, instead of thinking my recovery period entails being a couch potato binging Netflix, I find a productive outlet so I still feel like I am doing just as much. For example: doing yoga, foam-rolling, experimenting with pilates, or other things I think of as productive for myself such as playing the piano, reading more books, organizing my room (a family favorite!). I apply this to not only injury recovery but also downtimes in my riding competition schedule such as when autumn show finals are over and before WEF. That 1-2 month downtime is really important to focus on personal health. Downsizing the amount of exercise, then fully resting, starting back up, and getting even stronger than I was last season. Sometimes doing this cycle during another point in the year like in the summer for a week or two helps me, but if I experience injuries that year it's not as necessary since I most likely already took a rest period. Even more crucial than setting certain periods of the year for rest, is listening to your body. I find this difficult because I always doubt if I'm doing enough or doing too much and how much pain is too much pain to push through. There are so many double-standards in our society. In athletics, I find the double standard of pushing yourself v.s listening to your body extremely prevalent. For example, I notice on social media people posting "no pain no gain" much how much pain gives you gain and when does it become harmful? On the other hand, people post things like "treat yourself" while eating a donut or sleeping in. How much "treating ourselves" is the right amount? When does it start reversing all the progress I make in training? The answer to these questions is unique for everyone but because people post and share their journeys on social media it's easy to compare each other's lifestyles. I consider my lifestyle as being fluid: there are weeks I train harder than others, weeks I eat my food than others, weeks I sleep more than others, etc. But there are goals I create that set guidelines for my lifestyle. Within those goals is a kind of freedom that never makes me feel like I am restricting myself. The freedom also allows me to listen to my body. For example, let's say I have a personal goal to run a half marathon this fall. One week of my training I feel pretty crappy or I am swamped with exams so I have to step down my training. The next week my body feels really recovered so I step it up. Eventually, I get back to where I was stronger than before and I can keep progressing. Another example is sleep. I used to think if I didn't wake up at 6:30am on the weekends I wouldn't be productive enough. I told myself I was still sleeping in since I normally wake up at 6:15am on the weekdays but in reality, it was just a weak excuse to push myself harder. Sometimes my body really needs an extra hour or so of sleep, and as research shows sleep is incredibly important for the overall health of mind and body. So all in all, listening to my body has become the golden rule in my lifestyle. During recovery from short-term injuries, I reflect on several things, such as, how the injury occurred, what I have to do to recover from it, and how I can prevent it and other injuries in the future. Fortunately, I have not experienced too many significant injuries, but the ones I have endured took a toll on my psyche and have forced me to have that changed mindset I explained earlier. Recently I experienced shin splints from right above my ankle up my inner calves. I have never experienced shin splints before and no one in my family has either so I was scared at first. I was scared of the unknown: how bad they are, how long recovery would take, what recovery even entails, etc. My first step was to instinctually stop my running. To be honest, the shin splints were so bad I couldn't run even if I wanted to. I could barely walk without hobbling around. My second step was to research everything I could about what my pain was (found out it was Posterior Shin Splints). Then I researched a lot on various recovery routines and finally how long it would take to recover. It was a daunting realization that this was a serious injury when I learned the recovery time could be up to 3-4 months. That is a whole lot of time out of training, especially since the summer just began and I always increase my running now since I have more time and it's so beautiful outside. At first, I was extremely unhappy because all I kept thinking about was the time it would take to get back to where I was with my running fitness. However, after some revaluation, knowing the injury could take up to 3-4 months, motivated me to take this recovery seriously. First, I researched and found a recovery routine to follow religiously. Then, I researched and figured out how to prevent it from happening again. So I am now following a routine that entails icing, foam-rolling, Epsom salt baths, walking with proper shoes, etc. Finally, I am slowly but surely increasing my running again in five-minute intervals on the treadmill at 5.0 incline and jog pace so my calves don't have as much stride to work for. As for prevention, yesterday, the day I began to run again, I went out and bought new running shoes at an actual running store in town where the people there were able to help me find the right shoe and insole based on my foot, my usual mileage, and the fact that I have experienced shin splints. The outcome? A shoe from a brand I never even heard of, an insole that provides me stability and injury prevention, and knee-high compression socks to help with performance and recovery. (Although I was a big embarrassed wearing these pink socks to the gym today they sure did help! P.S I would have bough black ones but they were out of stock. I wonder why...) All in all, I am having a very positive outcome from my shin splint injury. I have had other short-term injuries that weren't nearly as easy to cope with as this one. The biggest reason they were more difficult was my mindset through them. I only saw the injury as a limitation from anything fun I could due. Seeing injuries as an opportunities to explore new things has allowed me to have a positive and productive mindset through recovery. Furthermore, it keeps me motivated to follow my recovery rituals like icing, foam-rolling, etc. and preventing myself from having another performance related injury. Short-term injuries are one thing, but life-long injuries or conditions are a whole other beast. Really anything that will be a life-long challenge is a beast of its own. At least for me, knowing I will have to deal with something my entire life has been a hard realization and I only just recently able to process. I have minor scoliosis, it only effects me when standing for a while, pushing myself in sports. It isn't really visible to the public eye, but it is to me, everyday. My pelvis is slightly rotated forward and my right hip is slightly higher than my left. If I put my hands on my hips it's blatantly obvious I'm crooked, and if I put my feet together my right knee is higher than the other. Having to deal with the pain is one thing, but knowing I have it every time I look in the mirror is another. I used to hate my body for it. I used to try to manipulate my back in ways to make it become straight. I was so desperate for it to go away. My pediatrician told me when I was younger that I would grow out of it; I never did. I decided I needed to find an alternative, anything that gave me a chance of progress with my back. While training with Anne Kurskinski during WEF 2018 she suggested I start going to a chiropractor. I immediately jumped on this suggestion and found someone up north near my hometown I could go to regularly. The day my X-rays came into my chiropractor's office was such a pivotal moment for me because my chiropractor not only solidified my hunch that I was crooked, he also said he would even be able realign my back significantly. To consider that even a possibility was a dream come true. Since then, I have been going regularly (its been about 15 months), I have been doing specific exercises, I have been listening to my body and eating healthy. However, it hasn't been a linear journey. Some weeks I come to his office an inch more crooked than others but all that matters is progression. For a while I needed to cut down on my running because my crooked spine was causing pain to shoot down my thighs into my knees. When I went to a specialist a few months back he told me my unaligned spine was significantly due to muscle imbalances. For example, my abductors (outer thigh area) was far weaker than my adductor (inner thigh). This was due to riding and the necessity of inner thigh strength. So I started doing targeted abductor exercises after that session a couple months ago and I have felt a big difference in my posture and performance in running. Although it is difficult to cope with something I know I will have in one way or another my entire life, finding alternative outlets I never knew I had, and creating a productive and supportive program for recovery, has helped me carry a positive mindset through my own short-term and long-term injury recoveries.
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March 2021
Included but not limiting to: horses, nutrition, workouts, student life, running, nature, current events, and more.
AuthorMy name is Martha Wyatt-Luth, I have been riding since I could talk but loving horses since I was born. Between being a studious high-school student and riding up to 6 days a week, my days get pretty busy. However, dedicating time to "hobbies" helps me keep going even on the longest days. For example, I love running and I hope to do a marathon one day! |