"Sit down. Rest."
Seems to be the first go-to advice we give people who are for whatever reason struggling, tired or hurting. Put your feet up. Relax. Watch your favorite show.
Except... is that really sound advice?
While I think rest and taking some me-time can be tremendously important for trauma or surgery recovery, or for people struggling with mental health issues, I don't really trust it when it comes to physical ailments.
Your back hurts? Lie down.
Your leg hurts? Sit.
And so on, and so forth, physical respite seems to serve as a cure-all golden ticket that (unsurprisingly) asks very little of you in return. And for a moment, it can seem really helpful. If you've been on your feet all day, maybe rest could provide the healing you need. For a minute.
I don't think the antidote to back aches or muscle cramps is sitting down. Quite the contrary. I think you need to move and get the blood flowing into sore muscles or whatever aches you're working with.
For three weeks now, I've been trying to "rest up" to heal a recurrent ankle injury. I've watched myself grow immensely irritable and depressive. For someone who doesn't really trust the medical world, the past weeks saw me very pliant. Sure, give me pain meds, give me whatever, just to end this.
Being very out of character, it shook me, and I sat back and tried to figure out how I'd come to that train of thought. Because the pain wasn't that great. Which pinned the blame to the other issue -- the constant state of imposed paralysis. This perceived impingement on my freedom of movement was what I wanted to end by any means necessary.
This morning, I woke up. Been lying in bed a lot, which is nice for my reading, but hell on my body. I hate it. Something I used to enjoy and revel in, I've come to hate for the prolonged periods I've been doing it lately. So this morning, I couldn't for the life of me find any position I was comfortable in. My back hurt all over, my hip area, my ankles, of course. My muscles were just out for blood, you know?
So much as it's tempting when you feel this sort of physical pain to "take it easy", I knew very clearly that wasn't what my body was needing. So I got out of bed, unrolled the mat, and got to it. And there's nothing like that fresh surge of blood hitting long-dormant areas. Nothing like a good yoga session after prolonged inactivity.
I've been maintaining my yoga practice fairly well until the injury, and before, I used to be like okay, 20-30 minutes, I wanna get off the mat. Because I was really active, I walked a lot, I worked out more intensely, I danced, and so yoga, while it provided me with much needed stretching, it wasn't the only chance to get the blood flowing, So it didn't feel as vital.
This morning, however, I couldn't get myself off the mat. I just kept wanting more and more. It felt good, which leads me to believe it's what the body needs to strengthen. I think we don't listen to that, 'cause we've somehow started thinking that our minds know better. See, my mind knows I should be sitting down. Resting. My body is screaming to get up.
So I've been listening to mind (mostly) for a while, and it doesn't seem to work. I'm gonna listen to body now, see how I do.
My opinion of the injury has shifted, too, so that might account for it. Before, I thought very much that I needed to give my ankle time to heal. Which in turn weakens the muscles and actually makes you more predisposed to re-injuring the foot. So now, I've been doing physical therapy exercises targeting that kind of injury specifically and it seems to be going well so far.
The thing about ankle injuries is that they're physical, but also very much in your head. Because when you injure your ligaments, your balance and your stability on that ankle starts getting shifty. You don't think you can trust your own ankle anymore. And I think that plays a huge role in recovery. Because I can sit down for three hours, and maybe my ankle's feeling good, but I regard it as injured. I'm scared what will happen when I do move. Which keeps me stagnant even more, loosening the ankle (and my faith in it).
For now, I'm reorienting towards more conscious movement, and less towards immobility. Maybe it's not about foregoing the step, but minding how you go. As in so much else :)
