Lessons From My Hip Injury and How To Find Your Calling

First lesson…trust your gut.  It had been almost 4 years since I played basketball and I knew I was NOT trained for it.

But I did it anyway when I was home in Jasper for Thanksgiving (darn ego) and injured my hip and hamstring going up for an alley-oop (yes, I used to be able dunk and maybe I was having delusional visions 🙂

So…that means you get a valuable video lesson from my mistake with some tips for "Re-booting" your nervous system for pain free functional movement after injury.

You've heard it before and have probably even muttered it…"I think my other knee is hurting because I've been compensating for the injured one."   These patterns or HABITS get etched in deep so I hope today's episode makes you aware of what you need to do to avoid degeneration and disability down the line.

Also…yesterday was a "Speed Coaching" day for Core Wellness Institute students, and one session I had made it obvious to me that finding and living your purpose is elusive for lots of folks. So I've got some helpful tips that may help you in that quest while also helping you with cravings, addictions. 

ENJOY and leave your comments and questions below!

[fb-like]

RESOURCES From Today's Episode:

http://lissarankin.com/how-to-find-your-calling

http://lissarankin.com/10-signs-youve-found-your-calling

http://lissarankin.com/what-to-do-when-you-cant-decide

 

Gluten and Dairy Free Food List (for a 30 day experiment???)

How Habits Work (summary from The Power of Habit book by Charles Duhigg)

Baby Back Exercise (to "re-boot) your core stability and functional movement system. 

Core Wellness Institute Training and Coaching Course (comprehensive course with 3 months of premium coaching as a bonus)

Slow Motion Walking (to help rewire good walking patterns in case you've ever had an injury that created compensentory patterns)

 

 

Comments

  1. Merry Christmass and Happy New Year. So very sorry for your hip injury, but I know you will be back in shape very soon. Take care, and a healthy, prosperous, laugh filled 2014. Blessings to your family.

    Your friend,

    Mary 

     

  2. Hej Doctor Steve,

    First of all, thanks once again for a great video! You really brought up some very important things there. The biomechanical aspect is really crucial in so many cases of rehab in terms of making sure that those compensatory patterns get erased so that a whole cascade of overuse injuries don't occur.

    That's exactly what happend to me over this past fall. You may not remember my story since you get so many, but my chronic patellar tendon issues started to affect all my limps joint by joint over a stretch of around two months which made me completely immobile for most of the fall. Both patellar tendons, then both achilles tendons, then both supraspinatus tendons, and then right brachioradialis tendon showed signs of overuse. Also the left quad muscle and both tricep muscles all of a sudden were injuried because of long term compensations. In my case, I was starting to believe that rheumatoid arhhritis was the cause of the tendon injuries as that sometimes is present in the early stages og the desease. Some doctors started to fear that as well. The main reason why it went so bad was compensations and the fact that I couldn't physically rest my injuried tendons properly. Instead I placed too my stress of joints that weren't meant to handle it and that over time weakened them a lot. But how quickly it got that bad led me to believe that some pathology could be present.

    People in the health care system had never seen anything like it before, but refused to help me when I needed it the most. I had moved home to my mom because I couldn't take care of myself anymore. That made some things easier for me, but I still couldn't put any weight on my legs. When I tried the pain and swelling increased a lot.

    Finally in october, a rehabilitation center offered me a stay. There I was in a wheel chair and and got help from a lift to get down in the wheel chair and up in my bed. That especially helped my knee issues, but the occupational therapist and nurce there had their own few on what it would take to get me better. They wanted me to do as many daily activities as possible by myself and use my arms more. After few weeks they realized that they had pushed me too far, since they wanted me to use my shoulders more for daily activities. I initially warned them about that, but they would not listen by any means. Several of my tendons they were already overused and as a result of that, my left shoulder got painful constantly.  After realizing how bad my condition had gone, my doctor got me hospitalized. My condition wasn't improving and she was getting a little worried too. I was affraid to move and stand up because all my attempts to do so had backfired on me time and time again, making the injuries worse.

    In the hospital a major breakthrough happened. I recieved help to everything I needed, which allowed me to rest my shoulder. Even more importantly I was finally properly examined and was clear of any arhritic conditions and other pathologies for that matter. That gave me new hope and when ultrasound scan revieled good healing of my achilles and patellar tendon injuries, I got the curage back to attempt to put weight back on my legs again. Now that was a huge challenge cause I hadn't done that for 3½ months and boy was that tough. It hurt in almost every joint in my feet and everything was extremely stiff. Fortunately there was only minor discomfort in the right patellar tendon. That eventually got better after days of standing up and after a lot on stretching, I could walk with some support.

    That was 3 weeks ago and today, back at the rehab center, I walked 10 minutes without any support and 99 percent pain free! I keep saying "fantastisk" which is fantastic in Danish, cause it really feels so to me after beeing through all this with constant woorsening over a 4-5 month period. It's like finding a hidden key for a locked door. Sometimes when you look for something and you spent a lot of time seaching for it in all the small places, you wind up finding it in an open space right in front of you.

    I realized that I would have started to put weight on my feet a long time before I did. I just wasn't mentally ready to take that huge step. Even though it felt so good to take my first steps in such a long time, it was and still is emotionally draining, cause looking back at this I know that all this could have been avoided. I made a critical mistake of not putting my weight back on my legs because I was so affraid to re-reinjure the tendons. The people from the health care system, mainly my doctor, initially failed to aid help when it was needed. I needed to get checked in the hospital but was first told that it was all in my head before they realized it wasn't. I met a lot of people who pretended to know a lot about tendons which I could tell they didn't because happened to be a newly educated physical therapist. So I knew what it took to rehabilitate tendinopathies, but I needed to physically gear down before I could gear up with the joint loading. The key I mentioned was getting some grounding again and letting my legs do what they were designed to do. Once they got back to that, my shoulders got better since I didn't have to use them so much to get around anymore. I could start to build my body back up from the ground again. In a way I felt like a house that had started to come apart because it's foundation had weakened to much.

    Even though I currently am very far from my final goal which is to be 110 percent physically and mentally better than before the injuries, I have gotten much of my energy and spirit back. I now believe that I will be able to live a normal life again – live by myself, get a job, do fun things with the one I love and possibly play sports agin one day. I've learned a lot about a lot of things through this dark chapter of my life, but I have no doubt that it will make me stonger in the long run. If I get a job as a PT one day, this will definately make it easier for me to relate to and understand many patiants issues. The physically hardest part for me was to get to walk again and now I feel like I can climp the rest of the mountains eventhough there may be many more before I am close to 100%. But like they say, the journey is more important than the finish line and I know that I will have many victories down my road like I've already had, passing several smaller goals.

    I like quotes because they often say at lot of meaningful things. I've have a new favorite one now: "Tough times don't last, but tough people do". I will remember that and take it with me.

    You have provided me with a lot of great imformation through your videos over the years and I am really appreciative for your efforts, cause I know it makes a diffence to many people, including myself. That's why I wanted to share my story with you and to let you know, that your videos have been a great source of inspiration for me in many ways during my recovery.

    So thank you for that and may God bless you! Keep up the great work!

    Mark

     

     

  3. Another great video. Thanks Steve. My comment most closely pertains to your P.S in the email you sent out saying "posture and movement are affected by ANY and ALL kind of stress." 

    I I have continually battled trigger points in my neck and shoulders in recent years, but last month I was locked down like never before.  I work with my trigger points on a daily basis, but I just couldn’t find relief on my own this time, and so I sought the help of a professional masseuse. Not only was I locked down physically, but also emotionally.  I could feel myself slipping deeper into some emotional void and had set up an appointment with a psychiatrist to possibly go on some medication (even though I have been-there-done-that a few times and was never pleased with the results) for the sake of the people around me.  It was as if I just couldn’t feel any emotion and just the day before this massage, I found myself watching a modern slavery TED video (saddest think I’ve ever seen) just to try to feel something. I’ve been a Core Wellness Institute student for a year now and have listened to you talk about the mind and body connection many times, but it never occurred to me that a massage could be emotional.  When this therapist started tapping into and releasing this tension in my right upper pectoral I became flooded with emotion and was flooded with tears to the point of sobbing. I walked out of that massage not being able to quit smiling for hours. It was as if I could stand up above the smog and as if a weight that I had been carying for years had been lifted. Upon reflection and paying more attention to my physiology during emotional distress in the following weeks, I’ve come to understand that I bury my emotions into muscle tension. I feel this is a great example of the mind-body/emotional-muscular connection and wanted to briefly share my story.

    • You nailed it, Chris!  I'm so glad you found some help to release the emotional tension.  I find that opening up the pectorals and the front of the chest in general to be most fruitful for helping people release emotional baggage.  I have seen that countless times.

       Now that you are aware you can stop, do a good chest stretch (or lay over your foam roll) and allow the emotion it's space while you breathe and find your peaceful center.

      Thank you so much for sharing your story.

      • Becoming aware of my emotional reactivity is proving to be a very essential and powerful skill. My foam roller is invaluable in helping me release the tension as it creeps in. I've found it extremely important to stay on top of paying my tissue debt, or my tension snowballs into a locked-down mode that I can't get out of on my own.

        Another interesting part of that massage is that I literally consumed an entire gallon of water during and directly after the massage. When he started releasing the hardened/ dehydrated myofascial tissue, it began soaking up the water in my body like a sponge to the point that we had to stop twice during the massage so I could suck down glass after glass of water. I haven't found any information about entire body cramps, but that is how I would best describe it. My thereapist apologized for pushing me so hard, but the resulting rehydration was worth it.

        The emotional distress causes muscle tension and the muscle tension creates that neurological buzz that causes emotional distress. I feel like I get caught in a "chicken or the egg?" loop with this idea. Maybe my emotions or the buzz don't cause anything, but it's my relatational response to them that does. I haven't quite figured it out, but I feel like I'm peeling back the layers.

        • Key phrase…"becoming aware".  Great to hear you are moving forward and peeling back the layers, Chris.  The emotions can serve as "opportunities" to become present and mindful so you can choose your response.  Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz in his book, You Are Not Your Brain", calls them "deceptive brain messages" based on all your old wiring. 

  4. Thanks again Dr. Steve,

    I always enjoy your videos; especially this one because you input some deeper messages.

    Keep up the good work and good luck,

    Ermias

  5. Dear Dr. Steve, I have recently found you on the web and I feel so lucky. Your videos are straight from the heart and straight to the point for what I need. I also enjoy the comments from others- I don't feel so alone with my back problem and recovery that I've been dealing with (and learning from) over the last 12 months. Thank you for your calling to be a teacher. You are a great one. –Linda 

  6. Thanks Dr. Steve for another informative video. I hurt myself last Fall from running. Everytime I do a long distance run I have major pain for two days after. Now I think it's because I keep compensating for pain that is no longer there. I will start paying more attention to my strides and foot placement from now on. Get back to the basics. Great advise!
    Have a Merry Christmas and a Healthy New Year!

  7. Wonderful video Dr. Steve…you again have shared such powerful info! I know you had posted this a while ago but my schedule doesn't always allow me to watch when you post so i try to come back to it later…so here I am! It was interesting for me to her you touch on "Our True Calling" in life…I believe God has a special calling for each individual and its only since I have been healing from "the core" that I am becoming aware of the passions and calling God has placed upon my life.

    "Open up some space and let it come through"…powerful words you just shared! For some of us (like me) it (our calling) couldn't come through until we started pealing back the layers of that onion (experiencing healing from the core) and discovered who & what truly was hidden within!

    Thank you so much and a blessed Christmas to you and your family! – Rebecca

    • Good point, Rebecca…when the “receiver” and “conduit” (your bodymind) is mistreated and dysfunctional, it’s more difficult to let the flow come through.  THanks for sharing!

  8. hi i had a hip surgery in 2003 and its now 2015, i neglected therapy because it was a bit painfull and i was afraid but due to the screws that are still in my right leg i hardly get any mobility out of them i cant squat, open my legs properly, sit in a car or anywhere without crossing my legs ,i cant stoop, i cant lift my knees parallel to the ground and if i try my other leg turns inwards ,i cant use a spin bike ,i cant lay flat on my back and lift my legs to the sky and ,i cant lower my back its as though it cant bend any lower after a point when i squat or try to get in a childs pose ,i can’t do any of them , everything is so stiff because i held it that way because of the pain i felt and if i try to do different now i still get this pinching pain in my hip i need your help and advice please

Leave a Reply