Rest is NOT Always the Answer

Whenever you are injured the first piece of advice given is RICE, which means Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate. With my back injury I've been told that maybe I need to Rest a little more. People say I am too active and that I cannot heal because I never Rest my back.

When you hurt your ankle, you can exercise or move around and still rest your ankle. Same is true with your shoulder, knee, and most other body parts. But when you hurt your back, it is hard to rest because you always use your back. I'm not talking a slight strain where you rest a couple days and then you feel better. I am talking about full out, chronic, crippling back pain. Hit by a bus pain!

I've taken breaks from martial-arts, aerobics, running, and heavy weightlifting, but the back pain never left. I still exercised, though, because I did not want to completely weaken my back and have even more issues. I've learned that exercise helps to strengthen injuries so it doesn't hurt more. For example, I am careful about lifting weights in order to strengthen all sides of my knee so that my knee cap does not wander off more than it already does.

After my hysterectomy I was forced to rest in order to heal from the surgery. I took 4 weeks off of exercise and most activity, and my back pain has worsened. I am depressed and my self-esteem have taken a blow because of the lack of exercise. So not only is the cause of the pain making me hurt, my emotions are causing me extra pain.

Exercise does more than make me look good and make me a better athlete. Exercise and endorphins from exercise makes me a happier person, which automatically make me feel better. Most people drink coffee to start their day. I exercise. When I don't exercise in the morning, I feel crummy all day. I am sluggish and depressed when I don't exercise.

The past four weeks were rough because not only was I bored and going crazy not getting out, but I was not getting my daily dose of exercise. Plus, I was getting weaker and less athletic. To make matters worse, my back pain was not getting better. I was not benefiting from the rest at all.

I started to exercise again this week. I am not doing martial-arts or hardcore training, but I am going to the gym to do strength and cardio. Now that I am exercising, my back still hurts, but at least the rest of me feels better.

Rest with Cross...and his cookie