Injuries happen.  It’s a part of life.  At some point you probably stubbed a toe, sliced a finger, or slipped on a banana peel.  Or worse … slipped on the whole banana.   Luckily we have bodies that come with the ability to mend. And we live in a time when medical advances can literally sow us back together.  But heeling takes time.  And sitting around for long periods of time is depressing.  We want to move.  We want to release endorphins and feel better.  It’s our nature.

So, how do you keep moving with a broken wing or a bum paw?  Well, first of all, ask permission from your doctor.  But ask her two questions.  Ask the obvious question about exercise regarding the injured area.  You’ll get the obvious expected answer.  “Stay off it.  Let it rest.”  But then ask about a different part of your body.  If you injured your ankle, ask if it’s okay to move your arms.  She may think you’re a bit nuts and transfer you over to the psych ward, but it’s a valid question.   For good reason orthopedic specialists tend to focus on the injury and its immediate area.  So, when they say rest, they may only be talking about your boo boo.

It may be help the healing process to move as much as you can.  This is essentially what rehabilitative physical therapy is.  In the big picture, we need to have a body that heals in dynamic states.  This is not a static world.  The forces that push and pull the body are very different when you are at a state of rest compared to a state of motion.  Ideally, you want all your bone and soft tissue to be healthy in all planes and states of acceleration and deceleration.  If you heal in a sedentary position, that’s great… if you’re going to spend your life in that sedentary position.  Injuries rarely occur when you’re just sitting there.  But, as soon as you move, ouch! … you’re screwed.  So, as soon as possible, you want to get your body into dynamic situations so it will heal under the conditions it will be living in.

Obviously, exercise is going to be limited.  But you can achieve many of the same essential basic fitness goals with a refined structure.  Cardio, for instance, is simply getting your heart rate up for an extended period of time.  Sure, it helps to have the big oxygen demanding muscles in your legs available for that task, but is it necessary?  Who says you can’t raise your heart rate by just moving your arms?   I bet if you started flapping your arms up and down right now like the top half of jumping jacks, you probably wouldn’t continue to do it for a full minute.  Why?  Because, everyone in this Starbucks would be staring at you.  But, besides that, your arms would get tired, you’d start breathing heavier, and your heart rate would rise.  Keep that up for twenty minutes… you’re doing cardio.

When I work with injured people, I use a general rule in avoiding the wound.  Start at the injury, then go one joint towards the center of the body.  Everything past that joint is fair game for exercise.  So, for instance, if you hurt your hand, design exercises that do not move your wrist, but do move your elbow.  If you hurt your elbow, rest that shoulder, but that shouldn’t prevent certain abdominal exercises.  When people hurt their ankles or their feet, I have them do push ups with their knees on a pillow.  In fact, if you do hurt your legs, you can get your cardio in by doing light upper body exercises with an enormous number of reps… isn’t that what running or biking is anyway?… very low load, very high reps.

The goal here isn’t to win competitions and wind up on the cover of Muscle Magazine.  It is to maintain a moderate level of fitness while you’re on the disabled list.  You may be hurt for the moment, but you don’t want to lose your muscle mass, your bone density, nor your good spirit.  Getting your heart rate up, releasing endorphins, and staying strong will help speed your recovery.

As you start to recover, try working in lower impact exercises to your routine.  If a pool is available to you, and you have the go-ahead to submerge, jump in.  Swimming is a terrific low impact exercise that lowers the direct force of gravity applied to your body and creates resistance to your movements in all directions.  Dance in the pool.  Move in every direction as much as you can.  You’ll be working muscles and strengthening movements you ignore in your terrestrial world workouts.  With virtually no chance of injury.  …well, besides drowning.

Low impact cardio exercises are pretty much anything that does not involve banging a part of your body against the ground. Running, dancing, jumping, even walking are considered impact exercises because of the force that the ground shoots up into your body. Your joints, muscles, and bones absorb this force. Normally, a certain level of impact exercise is good because it conditions your joints, muscles, and bones to build enough strength and volume to overcome these forces. But while you’re recovering from an injury, it may be smart to avoid these exercises for a while. Low impact exercises include swimming, biking, rowing, the elliptical machine… essentially anything where your foot or hand doesn’t come off the lever or pedal it is pushing or pulling. I teach spinning classes, which are simply stationary bike classes. I’ve seen people come in with injured feet and legs in various states of repair. If you stay in the seat while you pedal, it’s really pretty tame. But if the teacher starts playing some good music… Radiohead, Prince, or my favorite, Chris Valenti, then the class might get a little crazy. Be careful.

Bottom line: Do something, but be careful and reasonable about it. Remember… you’re still a gimp.