How to Exercise and Stay Active During Sickness and Injury

Even if you do nothing else, please watch the video of Arthur Boorman’s amazing recovery at the bottom of this post!

I know from personal experience that having an injury or chronic pain can prevent you from exercising, or be a source of discouragement that feels hard to shake off.

But I know, again, from my own experience, that there’s still a lot that you can do to stay active and help you to recover.

So in this post, I’m sharing my tips on how to exercise and stay active during sickness and injury.

But please ensure that you check with your doctor or medical professional before embarking on any exercise programme.

Find A Way Around It

Every person’s case and situation may be different, but in most cases, sickness or injury need not stop us from experiencing the many benefits of exercise.

There’s usually a way to work around the issue and not give up exercising altogether.

Also, given the many benefits of exercise, if done correctly, it will help to speed up a person’s recovery.

Let me share my own experience.

My Health Challenges

I have been dealing with constant pain in my lower back and hip/S.I. joint for the past four years.

This has meant that I haven’t been exercising as much as I’d like to, or doing the long runs that I once enjoyed.

I’m not sure, but I think that my issues stem from three factors:

Weakness/tightness in my Quadratus Lumborum (QL), Gluteals and Psoas Major (Psoas) muscles.
Lifestyle/habits: too much sitting and too much running (without doing any mobility work).
Emotional issues that I have not yet fully released.

Whatever the issues are, for the present, I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to do long runs, lift heavy weights, or perform exercises that require me to swing or rotate my body forcefully. These usually cause more pain and inflammation.

So that eliminates most of my favourite exercises! But let’s move on to the solution and to what I, and perhaps you, can do.

Shifting the Mindset

This is the starting place and nothing else can work without a shift in mindset.

There are two issues that I need to address here:

Thoughts Create Reality

Since I believe (and share on this blog) that thoughts create reality, I have to eat humble pie and own up to the fact that my outer pain and discomfort (‘disease’) is the result of something that is going in within me.

So, if I want to change my outer reality (my bodily conditions), then I have to first change my inner reality (thoughts, beliefs, expectations and self-talk).

I am aware of this and I am doing the inner work to resolve and release these issues. It takes time and so I’m having to be patient. But things are getting better.

Decisive Action

If I want to regain my health, strength and mobility (and I do), I have to believe that it is possible and decide that I am going to do what it takes.

I then have to take action, consistently.

I have been a bit wishy washy so far and the results bear this out. I have promised myself to do better, so let’s see how it goes.

The one thing I would stress is that I was able to find ways to exercise that have allowed me to do so safely.

And I feel so much better as a result––physically and mentally!

So I would urge anyone to be open minded and give it a try.

Mobility Training

Mobility training is working your muscles and joints through their full ranges of motion.

If we’re sedentary, we’re not usually working our muscles or joints through their full range of motion. This can result in overall weakness and being more prone to injury.

And if we’re doing some sort of exercise, we’re probably only training one set of muscles (and not the antagonistic or complementary ones) and we’re probably only training them through part of their range of motion.

This can lead to stiffness and imbalances, and ultimately, injuries.

Shoulders are a common casualty of this phenomenon.

Many people work their front and side deltoid muscles (which are the ‘show muscles’).

But they often neglect the rear deltoid muscle, resulting in imbalance.

And even people who train all three heads of their deltoids will often neglect the smaller muscles that make up their rotator cuffs. This often leads to restricted mobility (impingement), pain, imbalance and injuries.

I didn’t know about mobility work until recently, but I now know that this is something I should have been doing all along.

I also know now that this can help me recover the strength and range of motion in my hip and lower back. And so, this is something I routinely do now.

I use resistance bands and ankle weights to make it more challenging and grow stronger.

Stretching

This is something most of us can do, as it’s gentle and low-impact.

Apart from keeping my muscles supple, stretching always helps me to feel less tense.

Gentle Cardio

Even though I’m nervous to go back to my long runs, I can do shorter runs. And I can walk as much as I want.

I can also do things like swim or cycling. Chances are, you might have a version of cardio that you too could safely perform.

It might need to be something gentle and low-impact, like swimming. But there’s bound to be something you can do to stay active and give your body a workout, without worsening your condition.

Adapted Strength Training

I don’t feel comfortable performing exercises like the back squat or deadlift with heavy weights. But I can still perform these exercises with lighter weights.

And for when I feel like I don’t want to put any weight on my back, I can still do calisthenics like air squats or lunges.

I can also perform some yoga and pilates moves. Both of these will help to get me stronger.

In fact, a physio-therapist advised me to perform the side-plank and glute-bridges to help address my issues.

Similarly, you too might be able to safely perform some of the above, or some version of strength training that’s especially adapted to your situation, and enjoy the associated benefits.

Some Random Ideas

All of the suggestions discussed above are based on my personal circumstances and issues.

The following are ideas I’ve come across, which although I haven’t tried out, might still be helpful to you.

They’re also ‘low-impact’ and might therefore be much gentler on the system than some of the exercises I’ve mentioned previously.

Water Based Training

Water offers two advantages for training:

On the one hand, it takes away some of the weight from our lower body–especially the knee and ankle joints. This can make it easier for someone who has issues in these joints to move and be active.
Water also offers a gentle form of resistance and can be used to strengthen muscles in a safe and effective way.

Activities like swimming, walking in water (and using it for buoyancy and resistance), or aqua-aerobics might be a great way to get back in shape safely.

If you feel that training in water is too ‘gentle’ it’s worth bearing in mind that the mixed martial arts legend Bas Rutten used water-resistance to train his powerful open-palm strikes!

Chair Yoga

Chair yoga is yoga that has been modified to allow you to perform it while seated on a chair.

This may be especially helpful to people who may be recovering from injury, or are unable to get down to the ground and get back up.

Pedal Exerciser

The pedal exerciser is a stationary bike of sorts––but without the seat!

You get the pedals (with the resistance) but remain free to use a chair or seat of your choice.

Again, this may be of particular help to people who can’t travel to a gym or get onto a stationary bike.

You can workout at home and on a seat that you’re comfortable using.

Concluding Thoughts

That more or less concludes this post. I hope it gave you some insight into how you can exercise and stay active during sickness and injury.

There are probably a million other ideas, tips and techniques out there that I have not covered, or even heard of.

But if you want to get fit, strong and healthy again, you must choose to believe that it’s possible and look for your answers.

It might be hard and frustrating. But giving up should not be an option.

Watch the video below about Arthur Boorman’s inspirational transformation and let it reignite that fire in your heart.

Arthur’s Story

Arthur Boorman was a disabled veteran of the Gulf War for 15 years. He was a paratrooper and was injured as a result of his line of work.

Arthur’s doctors told by him that he would never be able to walk on his own again.

But Arthur dreamt of more for himself. And when he found Diamond Dallas Page, founder of DDP Yoga, Arthur’s journey back to good health and fitness began.

Say it with me: never, ever give up!

Never, Ever Give Up!