Recovering From Injuries

For me, one little misstep can cause a big injury.  It may be as simple as stubbing my toe or jamming my finger – something that most people they wouldn’t even think twice about.  Three days ago, I was going down my one step outside my front door, lost my balance and rolled my ankle as I landed.  Luckily for me, my ankles aren’t one of my worst joints.  However, my knees and hips are my weakest joints, so this misstep caused a pretty big flare in both.  When I am recovering from injuries, I find that I can more easily get demoralized.  Here is some advice on getting through (and past) these tough times emotionally and physically.

Stay Positive

Injuries are part of life.  For those of us with arthritis, they are more a part of life.  It is tempting for me to replay the moment of the injury over and over again and criticize myself for my dumb decision.  However, there is really no reason to do this.  Instead, realize what you want to do next time.  For me, next time when I know I have a step in front of me I am going to take my time and get my balance first.  Or even go so far as to say that maybe a railing should be installed (although you can’t guarantee there will be a railing at every step in your life).  Once you have come up with a better plan for next time, MOVE ON.  Absolve yourself of guilt and realize that it was a learning experience.  If you have spent any time at all in your life without arthritis, you probably developed a lot of habits and it takes a while to realize which ones need to be adjusted. 

Remember that you will get better and that it is just temporary.  Generally injuries don’t affect your whole body, so feel free to enjoy the parts of your body that are working.  If your legs are hurting, play a game or read a fun book.  If your arms are hurting, go walk around the mall or do something special that requires your legs.  This helps to keep everything in perspective. 

Getting Better

Aside for my disclaimer that I am not a doctor, here is my advice on how I approach dealing with injuries.  This is a combination of great advice from my physical therapist and doctor, as well as my own empirical evidence.  I find that while things are really flared up, the name of the game is rest.  I have currently been averaging 2-3 miles of total walking per day, but since the injury, for 3-4 days I’ll drop to 0.5 miles per day.  Then as things go from the acute pain down to dull pain, I gradually increase my steps back up to 1 mile, 1.5 and then back to 2 (two days each). 

Along with rest, I actively do what I can do decrease the inflammation in my flared joints.  First, I ice a lot.  Second, I use an anti-inflammatory gel that I can apply directly to my joint.  If I wasn’t already taking a maximum dose of Celebrex, then I would add that back in as well.  I don’t take much for pain.  This is an example where pain is your friend (strange huh).  It is telling you exactly what is going on in your knee (i.e. what position it wants to be in, how much walking it should do, etc).  If you take too much pain medication, you will lose these signals and then the healing process will take so much longer.  Even at night, the pain is good because it helps make sure you don’t sleep in a dumb position that will exacerbate the flare.  If necessary, I take tramadol (mild pain pills), which take the edge off if I need to concentrate, but I still feel the pain so I can make good choices.