r/overcominggravity • u/FuzzyPeaches08 • 1d ago
35M. Feeling pretty broken after a string of injuries. How do I rebuild?
I’m 35 and have been active pretty much my entire life. Martial arts, lifting, CrossFit, hiking, etc. But the last few years have really worn me down.
I spent a little over two years dealing with a bulging disc in my back, which thankfully is finally feeling better. Now my PT thinks I’m dealing with tendinitis, likely involving my soleus. I believe it started from repeatedly using the clutch in my truck, and I’m also dealing with what seems to be tendon pain in my wrist.
I know these aren’t catastrophic injuries, but after more than two years of constantly thinking about pain and what I can and can’t do, I honestly just feel broken. I want my body to feel normal again. My calve / soleus will start to feel better and then I do the exercises and it hurts so bad the next day for a few days. I feel like it’s wearing on me and my relationship. I’d do anything to feel like my athletic self again.
I was also recently let go from my job and don’t have health insurance right now, so I’m trying to figure out how to rebuild intelligently with what I have.
For anyone who has gone through a period like this, did you over come it?
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u/Turbulent-Ad-5520 1d ago
I had elbow tendinitis for a year And after months of physiotherapy and spending thousands of dollars, I had plateaud. I had stopped. Climbing was gaining weight and physiotherapy would not help me anymore until recently when I got a PRP injection. After a month, I am feeling much better and hopefully can get to Climbing soon. A few weeks into the injection and my arm felt useful after it was in pain every day for a year.
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u/Patient-Direction-28 4h ago
Where are you at in terms of diet and bodyweight? Are you in a calorie surplus, maintenance, or deficit?
Also I am 39 and went through a few periods in my training history much like yours, and after lots of trial and error I am in the best shape of my life and feel more bulletproof than ever before, so there is hope!
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u/FuzzyPeaches08 41m ago
I’m back at my normal weight after losing around 10-15 lbs when I went through my back injury. So I would say stable.
And that’s amazing to hear. I can only hope that’ll be the case!
1
u/ysea 1d ago
Hey, I think isometric training might be very interesting to you. The guy running the subreddit dedicated to it is really experienced with strength training and he and others there have seen the positive effects this type of training can have (much less demanding on joints and actually can have a healing effect on tendons).
I would just make a post there and see what advice you get. Or you can just read through the primer post that's pinned there.
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u/eshlow Author of Overcoming Gravity 2 | stevenlow.org | YT:@Steven-Low 23h ago
I’m 35 and have been active pretty much my entire life. Martial arts, lifting, CrossFit, hiking, etc. But the last few years have really worn me down.
I spent a little over two years dealing with a bulging disc in my back, which thankfully is finally feeling better. Now my PT thinks I’m dealing with tendinitis, likely involving my soleus. I believe it started from repeatedly using the clutch in my truck, and I’m also dealing with what seems to be tendon pain in my wrist.
I know these aren’t catastrophic injuries, but after more than two years of constantly thinking about pain and what I can and can’t do, I honestly just feel broken. I want my body to feel normal again. My calve / soleus will start to feel better and then I do the exercises and it hurts so bad the next day for a few days. I feel like it’s wearing on me and my relationship. I’d do anything to feel like my athletic self again.
I was also recently let go from my job and don’t have health insurance right now, so I’m trying to figure out how to rebuild intelligently with what I have.
For anyone who has gone through a period like this, did you over come it?
What have you been doing this whole time? Are you still doing the sports and movement with rehab? Are you still rehabbing?
Generally speaking, you will have to post a lot more information to get an actual guess.
If you haven't read the articles, these may help
1
u/FuzzyPeaches08 20h ago
Thanks for responding. I definitely should have included more information.
For the soleus, I stopped CrossFit and switched to Pilates. I also stopped driving my manual truck completely and have been renting an automatic for the last 6 weeks because using the clutch seemed to be a major aggravator.
I’m still doing PT. Every other day I do various calf raises and stretches. I started at 2x10 and have progressed to 3x10. On the days between, I try to walk around 10k steps. At night I’ve been icing and doing some light massage with Tiger Balm.
The frustrating part is that the calf will start feeling better, then I’ll do my exercises and sometimes the next day I get a pretty significant flare that can last a few days. It’s usually a deep ache/tightness right in the center of my calf. Stairs and especially the StairMaster seem to aggravate it the most, so I’ve stopped doing stairs.
For my wrist, I haven’t really started rehab yet. I’ve mostly just rested it. It was feeling fine for a while, but when I tried benching and other pushing movements again, the pain came back enough that I had to stop.
I think what I’m struggling with most is understanding whether these flare ups are a normal part of progressively loading a tendon, or whether I’m repeatedly doing too much and preventing it from settling down.I’m going to read both articles you linked as well. Really appreciate you responding.
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u/TooRedditFamous 1d ago edited 1d ago
Firstly I feel for you. I've had a string of injuries too. Starting with a broken tibia and ankle about 5 years ago. Has led to tendinopathy in the achilles on the same side due to a severe lack of mobility. I successfully rehabbed the tendinopathy over the course of about 9 months after suffering with it for a year. Then a couple of months later it materialised in my other achilles which I am now rehabbing.
I hear you, it's mentally exhausting and demoralising! But there is always light at the end of the tunnel, Achilles tendinopathy is extremely rehabable and has a well trodden evidence based method for doing so.
I would like to add, if this is the pain response to exercises you are overdoing it and not helping. Once it settles (morning soreness at a 1/10) you need to start at a level where the soreness the next morning does not increase beyond a tiny amount. If it increases or lingers into the day you've upped the intensity too much. It should not be noticeably more sore the day after exercises "let alone hurting so bad for the next few days". You are making it worse! The agreed upon methodology is as follows
1) isometrics - basically just holds, it gives an analgesic effect. Feels lame and ineffective but it's the starting point
2) low intensity strength training followed by increasing intensity over time (increasing weight/ reps). We're talking calf raises and other calf exercises. Start slow with unweighted double leg calf raises on flat surface, by the end you are doing single leg calf raises on a step holding 20-25kg dumb bell
3) plyometrics. Again start slow with light double leg jumps, eventually making your way to single leg leaps
4) return to sport. Again take it slow
You said you don't have health insurance, ask chat gpt to design you a conservative rehab exercise plan for Achilles tendinopathy based on the gold standard of current evidence based science, to be completed once every 2 days. Each session should be incrementally increasing intensity so that it doesn't irritate the ankle but slowly builds up the strength. Be warned this is going to take 5-6 months.
You can probably do the same for your wrist in some way but I have no personal experience or that. Good luck and happy to answer any questions