Having to cope with setbacks and being told to step away from the sport you love is something that many of us will have to face at some point. Often the timeline to returning to sport is hugely ambiguous, you find yourself in a position where you’re not sure how you ended up there, and with that brings many emotional ups and downs.

Whether you were involved in an accident, received a health diagnosis, suffered an acute trauma, a chronic injury or have been overtraining, it’s important to find a way to deal with your situation both physically and mentally. It can be a hugely disempowering process, but setting in place the necessary tools and framework will help you to get through it.

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR SITUATION

First and foremost, being told you need to take time away for sport is a massive blow, because it’s part of your identity. Not only is it the daily training, but the community that surrounds it, spending time with those who love the same thing you do. As a result, it’s extremely hard when it’s suddenly no longer in your life. Thankfully, your aerobic base isn’t going to go anywhere too fast, but you are going to have to put the work in to get yourself back to where you want to be.

What does your injury mean? What are the long term effects if you carry on as you are? What do you need to do to get better? Hopefully by now you’ve been given a diagnosis by a suitably qualified health professional, but it doesn’t stop there - you really need to explore this in more detail.

SIT DOWN WITH THE RIGHT PROFESSIONALS

Thankfully, there’s now loads of opportunity to get in front of the right people - who not only know about your sport, but also have experience of working with others who have gone through similar experiences. They know what they are looking for and how they can help you further.

You want to look deeper at all areas, from blood to bones, to your strength and conditioning program, nutrition and your recovery time to truly understand what’s going on. Once you understand these facts, you’re going to have the power you need to reflect and get started!

If you know you’ve been neglecting X and Y, it will help you to understand why you’re in this deficit and why your body didn’t respond the way you wanted it to. Understanding the situation and knowing the facts is going to be really powerful. The main aim of this period is to identify why this happened to you in the first place. Did you train too much or too intensely? Were you fuelling and recovering enough? Was it a freak accident, or caused by a chronic weakness in a certain area?

Although it might be initially hard to hear, if you understand and absorb the facts, you’ll hopefully never find yourself in this situation again. You’ll recognise the signs and symptoms that are starting to creep up on you, enabling you to take the proactive steps to find out what you could be doing to help. It’s just a matter of working through a logical process.

If you’re currently struggling with injury and don’t know where to turn, download our free Injury Crisis Toolkit to start taking the right steps to recovery:

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WRITE IT DOWN

Keeping an injury journal is a great way to not only hold yourself accountable, but also to help keep the momentum going through a frustrating time. Whether that’s making notes on how you’re feeling, ensuring you are fuelling optimally to aid your repair or tracking your rehab exercises, it can become a very powerful tool to help to keep you on track.

Your journal can also be a great resource to look back on if you feel yourself slipping towards a similar issue again in the future.

PLAN OUT YOUR WEEK

When it comes to planning out your week, whether you are coming from a place of injury or overtraining, you’re going to have to readjust to a new kind of perspective. There are always going to be non-negotiables; work commitments, family life etc. So, what can you do to ensure you’re putting time and energy into the things that matter, whilst getting back to full health?

You want to be developing a structure of strength and stability, looking at your week and thinking how can you take back control.

You will find that the different professionals you work with will give you a variety of short and long term goals, whether that’s your strength coach, dietitian, physio or consultants. Rather than feel overwhelmed by all this information, see it as an opportunity to develop a recovery timeline (again, writing it down so you can see it clearly) and don’t forget to include your rest and nutrition. From each health professional, learn what you can and can’t do at each stage of your recovery, and ultimately use this to help maintain momentum.

FUEL YOUR BODY

Finding time on top of your current commitments can be hard, but it’s essential to be consistent and ensure you are making time to focus on your nutrition. Your body will require optimal nutrition for optimal recovery. Are you getting the right intake of protein, fats, carbohydrates, glycogen, amino acids etc? You can’t repair bone, ligaments or tendons quickly and effectively if you body does not have the right nutrients. You want to make sure you have each of these dietary elements, to ensure you have enough energy in your system for your basic physiological and metabolic systems to thrive.

Now is not the time to be restricting or reducing what you’re eating. You want to make sure you are optimising everything - however, this doesn’t mean you can just sit on the sofa eating and drinking rubbish, because your body will not respond well!

If you’re not sure about what you need nutritionally, speak to a qualified sports nutritionist or dietician who will be able to set you on the right path.

GIVE YOURSELF TIME TO HEAL & EMBRACE CHANGE

It’s no surprise that you’re going to be doing less training than you were before… but you’ve got to give yourself time for your body to heal. Make sure you are not actively pushing your body in other ways in that time (i.e. using too much walking or overly manual jobs to fill your time), but equally you don’t want to just be sitting in front of the TV 24/7 - it’s all about finding a balance.

Growing other areas of your life and embracing other hobbies and relationships is a great way to take your mind off of things. It is so important to have people around you in these moments, so try to make more effort with your friends and family. Not only will they be a great distraction, they will also be someone to talk to when you’re in that dark place, helping to spur you on when you need it.

Distraction is super important at this time. Don’t be afraid to lean into work more, or take up a new hobby. It will help you to not dwell on things. This will also help you to start planning the next week, month, six months. It’s an opportunity for you to grow into a more resilient, stronger, healthier and happier individual.

Whatever your condition, physiologically you body is going to take as much time as it needs to repair, both mentally and physically. You want to give yourself time to step back, review your situation and move forward. Don’t rush things or cut corners, it won’t help you in the long term.

Reframing your mindset, understanding more about your situation, surrounding yourself with the right people and focusing on your nutrition and recovery will help you get to where you want to be. Remember, everyone’s journey will be very different, and will be based on many variables including cause of injury, mindset and individual background etc.

These are all things that are going to allow you to pivot your mindset and eventually your physiology, to get you back to doing the things you love!

To learn more about coping with setbacks and to hear more about Kriss’ own journey, listen to our podcast or get in touch to find out how we can help.

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HOW TO COPE WHEN FACED WITH INJURY