I’ve had several relative minor injuries through my lifting career that I’ve had help and guidance from the BBM team to get back on track. I think I understand the protocol of finding an entry point and progressing from there so I know what is required. However, this time it’s been a rib injury sustained during some pretty intense BJJ sparring and physiologically this has really affected me mainly because of the level of pain and general disruption of normal life. I definitely have the desire to get back to training but the fear of going through this again is pretty overwhelming as the thought of starting from scratch is not something I want to go through anytime soon. What frightens me most is that this happened without warning, I’ve never had any notable rib pain, there was no build of pressure or warning signs of any kind so it seems to have been just one of those things which actually makes this more scary to me.
On a side note, just letting you know that the app is great. I had just bought a new template which obviously tempted fate!
Thanks for the kind words regarding our app. We appreciate it
For the injury and related fear, that’s a tough situation. Seems like you’re reporting an injury from trauma and not training. I wouldn’t suspect any preceding signs or symptoms of an injury with trauma, as that would be more in line with an overuse injury. I also don’t see the relationship to training in general compared to BJJ, a contact sport. I suppose all of the injuries I’ve sustained racing motocross is similar. After a few big ones, e.g. broken femur, dislocated hip, etc. I was definitely a bit gun shy with riding. That eventually faded away, but I don’t have any secret sauce for how to overcome it faster. I do think repeated, gradual exposure to the activity is likely key, particularly when the stakes are low.
Thanks for the response Jordan, that’s really helpful.
Sorry I should have clarified that the fear from training is in not wanting to reset things as this is taking a long time to improve. I actually spoke to the doctor over the weekend due to some adverse effects from the pain relief and we talked about this. Her advice was that the things that hurt can also be the things that help with the healing process for a rib injury (e.g deep breathing). Forgive the stupid question but I assume it’s fine to train without valsalva?
Also I knew about your motorcycle accidents so thanks for sharing. I just feel pretty rattled from it given it was such a standard situation.
Rooble. I had a serious leg injury that occurred while squatting. I was very anxious. I had a few sessions with a sports psychologist. Used some cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques. There are some specific methods she taught me that helped quite a bit. Good luck.
We actually can’t really exercise intensely without a Valsalva. It’s a reflex and happens whether you want to do it or not. We can add to it with more conscious, focused bracing, belts, etc., but you’re doing a Valsalva on some level for pretty much all of your movements. That said, lighter loads, machine-based work, tempo training, and so on may all be useful for finding your entry point.
I do not think training is likely to prolong your symptoms. Quite the opposite.
Hey Jordan, just wanted to drop in and say thanks for the nudge. It’s not been great and still can’t do certain exercises but definitely feel better for doing something and getting better at some variations that I’ve not bothered with before.
