Reflections From An Episode Of Injury In Early 2020

Argh, injuries. Don’t we all hate them. And for gym rats like me, we hate them more because it affects our exercise plans. From the title, you will know that something happened recently. I got injured, *gasp* Okay let’s begin with what happened. Some time ago, I took my mountain bike into the bike shop for servicing. The bike shop replaced my brake pads which were badly worn out, which is great.

What was not so great, however, was the fact that I was too used to my “worn out” former brakes. And so, a few days later I was riding down a 35-ish degree slope and needed to slow down. With my muscle memory I pressed on the brakes early and hard. You can probably predict what happened next. I supermanned over the handlebars and onto the hard gravel.

I went to the Emergency Department that evening, and it turned out I had badly grazed both palms and also ended up with a fractured bone on my left wrist. Both hands were bandaged after a painful process of removing the gravel; I was given a tetanus shot, and my left arm was put on a cast. Ouch.

Apart from the pain, my immediate thought was about how to navigate the inconveniences of showering. It took a while to get used to it, and it was terribly inconvenient. I was fortunate that I had recently cleaned my apartment and had sufficient food in my freezer for my lunches at work. My modes of transport were relegated to walking and public transport.

Then came the next thing after all the key priorities – fitness! I made sure I wasn’t going to be a couch potato and just laze around. Instead, I planned to do what I could – which is walking on the treadmill in the gym and walking outside when the weather was good. Although I couldn’t lift weights or do yoga, I will do what I can do to be active.

And so, I did. I religiously went to the gym each morning to walk on the treadmill and spent a lot of time walking outside. I still got up early each morning and did not break the routine. I even went to some of my usual fitness classes, but mostly to socialise and do light exercise.

After a week and a half, I had to go to the orthopaedic clinic for an X ray and a review. My grazes were healing on schedule, but the fracture was healing way ahead of schedule. After one and a half weeks, the cast was removed and replaced with a splint, which also was only on for two days.

There is something I should share also. In the past, whenever I was ill with anything, people who knew me were quick to point out what they think – which is that I fell ill because I was weak due to not eating meat. However, this time, with this quick recovery, none of those people said it was mostly because of my plant-based diet. Funny, huh?

As I write this, it’s around the six-week mark. My grazes have almost completely healed – about 85% of the way there. My wrists are still recovering inside, and it will take a little while, but have come a long way already. I am rehabilitating it with help from my local chiropractor. I envision that by two months’ time, I should be almost fully recovered.

The takeaway from all this – don’t allow an injury to fully sabotage your fitness plans, if you can help it at all. In this episode that I just shared, I could have totally stopped exercising. But that would be a bad approach. Instead, I did what I could, within good reason of course, and that kept my routine alive. From walking to the treadmill, I’m back to my usual exercise routine, and even some simple yoga! As I continue to heal, I will progress more. Take care of yourselves aight. And check out the following: