The Gift of Injury
What an Injury Taught Me About Training, Recovery, and Humility.
Rehabilitating an injury can be one of the most humbling and eye-opening experiences in a training journey. It forces you to slow down, reflect, and reevaluate not just your workouts, but your overall approach to health and performance. What started as frustration over lost progress became a period of learning, growth, and ultimately, transformation.
I am not one to speak from high up on a soapbox as a physical therapist, as I am the injured individual who is going through this process.
About a month ago, I was testing a barbell snatch for a heavy double. Everything felt great until I caught my final barbell complex in a full squat. Immediately I felt a pop and sharp pain in my hip and groin region. Right away this feeling was all too familiar.
I had re-aggravated a hip injury from 7 years ago that had sidelined my training for months. I stubbornly did the second part of the workout (ie: pushed through the pain), which included high volume body weight squats. I tried to be optimistic that I would gradually feel better in the next few days.
After about two weeks, I realized that this was not going away on its own. I was now unable to even perform basic movements like a body weight squat or lift up my right leg to step into my car.
As a physical therapist who tries to keep clients in a positive mindset, I found myself going down a rabbit hole of fear about losing my ability to train with heavy weights, especially heavy squats.
Those of you who know me know how much I love to train heavy squats.
So I took a step back and realized that I could now empathize and connect on a deeper level with my clients.
Even as a professional, I am not above the rules of injury. I remember going through this same injury 7 years ago. Then the lessons I learned came much later in my recovery journey. So this time around, I paid attention and listened to my body a lot sooner.
While the recovery and rehab process can be frustrating, the lessons I’m learning are a gift. Not only are they helping me to optimize my current recovery, but also improve my training in the future.
I’m sharing the lessons I’ve learned from injury recovery & rehab, so you, too, can appreciate the gift of an injury.
1. EXPOSING WEAKNESSES IN TRAINING
An injury reveals the gaps in your training. In my case, it showed just how much I had neglected long term hip mobility (internal rotation), among other deficits. I had been so focused on strength and pushing harder, that I was essentially just one deep squat away from jamming up my hip because of a lack of mobility.
Balanced cardiovascular conditioning had also taken a backseat, and more specifically with running. I most definitely have a bias for heavy weight training, and considered higher intensity functional training at shorter durations as adequate for health and conditioning. I realized that I was drawn to this because it was the most stimulating and fun. So I learned to truly embrace running at multiple distances, speeds, durations, and more specifically in cardio zones 2 & 3.
Most of all, I learned that long duration and low intensity walking can be just as effective for overall health and cardiovascular conditioning.
2. TAKING THE TIME TO DIAL IN NUTRITION
Injury recovery created the space for me to zoom out to look at my overall training and health habits.
I knew that one of the key pillars of health that I was not putting much intention behind was my nutrition. For years I would always have the mindset that I would clean up my eating. With the disruption in my normal training, I was able to reset that thinking.
I started tracking my macros and overall nutrition to work towards the body recomposition and weight loss goal that I kept putting on the backburner.
3. HUMILITY & THE VALUE OF ASKING FOR HELP
One of the biggest mindsets that I continue to emphasize in injury and rehab to all my clients is all about scaling. And now it’s something I have to apply for myself.
Whether it was reducing range of motion, lowering loads, or choosing bodyweight variations, scaling kept me moving while injured, and also kept me training with my friends in CrossFit.
I learned to check my ego, check in with my body each day, and work from there, not where I wished it were.
4. SCALING INS’T QUITTING
Before the injury, I was stubbornly self-reliant, and that translated to thinking I could provide the best rehab for myself since I was the physical therapist. I also believed that because of my extensive training & knowledge of the body, I could take shortcuts and lie to myself about the rehab process.
This recent injury taught me about humility. I realized I needed to seek out the mind and eyes of another physical therapist to guide and challenge me, so I could avoid my own biases.
Seeking professional help wasn’t a weakness. It was a strength. It meant I cared enough about myself and my health to do it right. I trusted the process that I talk about each and every day.
Last, but not least…
Rehabilitation isn’t just about healing one specific thing — it’s about evolving. This whole journey has revealed blind spots and biases, taught me patience and grace for myself, and gave me tools that will serve me for life.
More importantly, it reminded me that health and fitness isn’t about endlessly pushingforward. Sometimes, true strength lies in stepping back, reassessing, and working smarter, not just harder.
Seek the help of a physical therapist to help guide you through the rehabilitation process. It will set you up for long term health & success. Hell, I’m a living example.
In order to continually learn and evolve, we all need to remember that it takes a community to keep each of us strong and healthy. Just as coaches need coaches, physical therapists need other physical therapists!
Thanks Doc Lauren!
