Dealing with limitations due to an injury can seriously test your patience. As much as you would love to get back to doing all the things you used to do before this setback, pushing yourself too hard can do more harm than good.
It’s important to set realistic goals when recovering from an injury but finding that delicate balance that allows you to make slow and steady progress is easier said than done.
This article will help you learn how to find your own personal balance that allows you to fully recover from your injury. Here’s how it’s done:
1. Be Honest With Yourself
The hardest part of recovery is being honest about how much you can handle. We want to believe that we are stronger than we are, and we want to believe that we can handle just about anything.
However, without this honesty with yourself about your own limits, you risk becoming frustrated and giving up or pushing yourself beyond your limits and reinjuring yourself.
On the flip side, you may not challenge yourself enough. You may be the kind of person that doesn’t have enough self-motivation.
If you are honest with yourself, you will admit this quality and take action to find someone to keep you on the right path. Without consistent work, your recovery will take much longer.
2. Don’t Compare Yourself to Others
As humans, we are all unique. What one body may be able to do, another just won’t and there’s nothing wrong with that.
When you begin to compare your recovery with that of someone else, you’ll only set yourself up for failure.
Focus on your own abilities, your own progress, and your own needs.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t use the example of someone else to improve your own recovery. You might find some good pointers from someone else who has been through the same type of injury.
Just don’t expect yourself to follow the exact same time frame or progress that anyone else does.
3. Be SMART
Whenever goals are involved, a great tactic to use is to set S.M.A.R.T. goals. Your goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-Focused, and Time-Based.
When this comes to your recovery goals, you should have a specific goal that can be measured and proven. For example, you may have a goal of increasing the range of motion in your elbow by 25%. This is specific and measurable.
Next you need to make sure you aren’t setting goals so high that they aren’t attainable. Even if the big goal is to have perfect use of your elbow, you may want to settle for a smaller, more attainable goal first.
Lastly, your goal should be results-focused and time-based. You don’t want your goal to lack the ability to see results. We are motivated when we can see results.
Make sure your goal has a deadline. This can push you to stick to a routine and have a hopeful future.
4. Listen to the Professionals
If your injury is bad enough, you may need the help of a team of professionals to help you on your way. A doctor will probably be your first stop, especially if you end up in the ER.
Next you may see an x-ray technician and then probably follow a few weeks of physical therapy.
Along the way, you will be given a lot of information about how to care for yourself. Listen to what they tell you! They didn’t go to medical school for nothing.
These medical bills can pile up and this thought might make you wary of even seeing a doctor. However, if you were a victim of negligent driving or any other thing of no fault of your own, you shouldn’t be responsible for these bills.
A good team of injury attorneys can help to get you reimbursed for any medical bills that you accumulate due to an injury. They will probably even get you more money so it’s worth giving them a shot.
5. Be Patient
This last tip is the clincher. You must be patient with yourself. Recovery takes time. As much as we would like to, we can’t speed up the clock to perfect health.
Stick to the plan, keep at your daily recovery exercises, and stay positive.
Granted, if you don’t see any progress or results for a period of time, it may be time to get back in touch with a medical professional to see what’s up.
You may need more help or physical therapy to get you to the next level of recovery.
Conclusion
If you follow these tips above, you’ll see sure improvement without any further setback to your injury. It may not be what you want to hear, but recovery takes time and dedicated effort.
Nevertheless, recuperation is achievable.
