The rehabilitation pendulum is starting to swing positive, my friends.

A few weeks ago I wrote about my trips to physical therapy (check that out right here) and since being ‘discharged’, aka train but don’t be a moron, I wanted to share a few more thoughts that I have had over the last month of continued training, but with a Physical Therapy twist.

1) There are no movement progressions or regressions - everything is purely contextual and individual to you.

On the spectrum of ‘easy’ to ‘hard’ when it comes to movement...you can throw it out the window. When you’re dealing with pain, or a pain response to movement (in this case a cranky back), every movement choice needs to be individual to where you are in your rehab. Do you need a lighter load? Can you handle a traditional load but in a more stable/fixed position?

It all matters.

Traditionally in my training I love performing RDL’s, a traditionally ‘easier’ variation than a deadlift from the floor. However the floor provides some added stability that allows me to keep my back in a solid, stiff, position. Though it is a more complex or ‘hard’ movement, in this case it’s my new primary movement in my training.

2) Little things become big things.

When you’re on the road to recovery the smallest variables play a big part in your success. Specifically, I want to highlight breathing.

When you’re working out, you breathe. Duh.

Specifically, I want to highlight the ‘how’ behind it. Timing your inhales and exhales, maybe pausing slightly in between, and how you use your breathing to manipulate tension in your movement.

Other examples of little things that tend to matter? Movement range of motion (how far your body moves during an exercise) and which training implement you use (kettlebells vs dumbbell vs barbell) and how it affects where the weight gets held on the body.

Little things matter and they matter more when you’re coming out of pain.

3) You can still train hard.

This is a message I always relay to my clients. Just because you have a sore _____ or your ______ hurts or you’re in PT for _______ you can still train hard.

Normally I would preface this by saying your definition of the word ‘hard’ may need to change.

But even that isn’t correct.

When you’re coming out of pain, when you’re actively seeing a PT for help, it’s important to 1) find things you can still do pain-free. 2) do things that do not interfere with your rehab. 3) still work to achieve fitness and/or a training effect in your exercise. And last, 4) it’s important to keep moving, to any capacity.

When my back was in peak painfulness, my PT asked what didn’t hurt. My reply was anything standing. So, together, we worked on a list of 3-5 movements that I could do from a standing position that didn’t interfere with my rehab exercises, still allowed me to train with a respectable load to get a training effect, and wouldn’t put me at risk to injure myself further.

I think any PT (or at least a PT that’s any good) would tell you that the worst thing you can do is nothing. There’s always something. There’s always a way to reach your goals.