Embrace Your Injury

A guide to overcoming – and managing – your injuries and niggles with sports massage therapist Terri Ocean Ireland.

So often, when we get injuries or niggles, we pretend they don’t exist. We bury our head in the sand and convince ourselves that we are fine.

Your mindset is key. I’ve learned that from working with many of my clients’ injuries, and being injured myself. A negative mindset can set you back, cause further injuries, and create a long and frustrating road to recovery.

The first step to a speedy recovery is to accept and make friends with your pain, whether it’s a full-blown injury, chronic lifestyle problem, or even a simple niggle. Don’t ignore it!

I have successfully guided many clients through chronic and acute injuries and lifestyle pains. And then I got to experience this pain for myself. I tore two ligaments in my knee, which set me out of exercise for five months. It was disheartening to say the least, and suddenly I had to practice what I preached.

My injury become a blessing in disguise, and possibly the best thing that could have happened to me. It took me from sporadic exercise – struggling with motivation and daily aches – to feeling physically fantastic.

I accepted it as a learning curve to better understand injury recovery to help others struggling with injury, pain, or niggles.

If that’s you, turn your frustrating issue into an opportunity. Our bodies compensate when injured: one injury is almost guaranteed to cause a second injury, and so on, until you are caught in a vicious circle. Ignoring the problem isn’t the solution.

Here is your guide to recovery.

1. ACCEPT IT, NAME IT