What Happens When I'm Sick or Injured?

This looks like it should be a really short post, doesn't it? Sick? Injured? Rest and get better, then come back to it.

Things are rarely as simple as they should be, though.

When you're ill, the conventional wisdom is that if the illness is from the neck up, exercising and movement are still a "go," if you feel up to it. Below the neck (chest congestion, for instance) is a "no go." Of course, if you have any suspicion that you are contagious, going to a public class should be out of the question. Ahimsa, after all--do no harm. You might not realize that others have immune issues, or family members with cancer, etc and what is a simple cold for you could be disastrous for them.

I've tipped my hand already. It's Ahimsa, the first Yama of Patajali's Yoga Sutras that I'm talking about. I'll get back to it in a moment.

Okay, so illness isn't too complicated, really. But what about injury? What if your shoulder, or ankle, or whatever is acting up either with a dull ache or a sharp pain? I mentioned the conventional wisdom above, and for injury, you might be familiar with the RICE method: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation when faced with (mostly acute) injury. But have you heard about PEACE and LOVE?

First of all, I just like the acronym. It's already perfect. This method of handling soft tissue injury (muscles and connective tissues, for example) is much more balanced than RICE and promotes better healing.

Protect the injury for a couple of days by resting, but don't overdo this part

Elevate the injury. It's not clear how much it helps, but it almost certainly won't hurt

Avoid anti-inflammatories because inflammation in this case is how the body repairs itself

Compression of the injury reduces swelling

Education: always a good idea to remember that your body knows what to do!

Once you've taken a few days to work on PEACE, you can add some LOVE!

Load: get back to your usual as soon as possible, as long as it's tolerated

Optimism, or a positive outlook, serves better than pessimism

Vascularization: aerobic exercise increases blood flow to the injury, promoting healing

Exercise to tolerance, which means that you do what you can without pain

All of this goes along with Ahimsa. Non-harming encompasses not only others, but ourselves as well. We need to be sure we're treating ourselves well not only when we're injured, but when we're healthy too. The irony is that sometimes treating ourselves well in injury is more than just taking time off. Being aware of the best ways to heal will allow us to remain vital, vibrant, and vigorous throughout the entire lifespan.