Athletic Injuries, Depression, and lack of Hope

[Mike03]

Can anyone please assure me that my body is not disintegrating for good right now?

In the past two weeks it just seems that my body is falling apart. My left knee was injured for the second time in a year, and it's hard to do yoga, weight lifting or even walk my dog or jog. And I've developed some kind of neck/shoulder/headache that seems to be chronic.

How many days can I go without lifting weights and doing yoga before I begin to experience deterioration of my strength, muscles, desire to exercise, etc...

It's so depressing when your body seems to begin to give out.


:nopity:

I know; everybody goes through this. It's just so... Yuck...

[Flaxbee]

1. can you swim?

sometimes the best alternative if weight-bearing activities are hurting you...

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Good advice!

[applegrove]

10. Yes swimming is good for those who have a couple of achy spots.

[seemunkee]

3. been there myself many times

I'm an all or nothing type and end up hurting myself frequently. In the last few years I have had shoulder surgery, torn a groin muscle, dislocated both ankles in separate incidents, had chronic pain in my other shoulder, had kidney surgery along with hernia repair, been on a cane for a knee that keeps going out on me. Not to mention the numerous small injuries that knock me out for a week or two.
I drive my wife nuts when I can't be active and it seriously affects my mood.

Take it easy, heal up you'll be back into it soon enough. Taking time off is a good thing. Maybe find an exercise you can do to build up your core strength and plan for what your goals are when you can get back into it.

[Mike03]

4. Wow, you know exactly what I'm going through.

That is it, exactly.

I'm not behaving like myself at all. It truly is affecting everything I do.

Thanks for your response. It makes me feel not so alone.

[flvegan]

5. Muscle atrophy takes a while.

It may *seem* like your strength will diminish after a couple weeks or a month out of the game, but the muscles relearn quickly. Matter of fact, the shock of an extended break may help you bust through a plateau.

Matter of fact, the previous Mr. Olympia was FAMOUS for taking a couple MONTHS off after winning the Sandow (which he won 6 or 7 times, I forget).

[Mike03]

6. Thanks for that information....

So far, I've only missed four days of yoga and weight lifting. But I'm just very devoted to trying to get rid of this tension or muscle-contraction headache. It has lasted sixteen days. And I can't tell whether exercise helps or hurts. So far, it just seems to make it worse.

Thanks for responding to my post.

[flvegan]

7. 16 day headache?

Have you seen a doctor?

[graywarrior]

8. Sometimes the best you can do is deep breathing til things balance out

Getting stressed over it just makes things tighten up more. I have gone 3 months without working out but once I got back to it, it was like I never stopped.

[pitohui]

9. be patient with yourself please

friend, i've noticed your posts before, and i believe that you've had these repeated injuries because you have not had the patience with yourself to let yourself get well

rest is part of conditioning too

as far as the 16 day headache i think it's time to call the doctor and see what's going on with that, could even be eye strain? (as in since you are not working out as much, more time spent reading or at the computer?)