Sports Injury Rehabilitation


I've been a member of  Orangetheory for three years now and always stretch after class. On my off days I lift weights, stationary bike, zumba, yoga  and walking. Somehow I managed to get injured last October, don't know how exactly.  I got high hamstring tendonitis which is a dull aching pain high up on my hamstring, so literally a pain in the butt. So I stopped running and yoga and thought it would go away on its own but it didn't. So I went to physical therapy but wasn't consistent with doing the exercises at home so it didn't go away. My pain was manageable, on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the worst it was only a 2, but it was always there. 

When the quarantine hit my physical therapist reached out to me to ask if I still wanted to come in, I didn't, but thought damn this has been going on too long. So I got on youtube, and there are physical therapists out there who create entire channels of videos for every aliment. I already knew the exercises I should be doing for rehab, but just didn't have the self motivation to do them at home. So to find a video that I could follow along with everyday, that did the same exercises I used to do with my physical therapist was perfect! And I'm happy to report that after 3 months of consistently working out with the videos I think my high hamstring tendonitis is gone! 

I'm not recommending you cure whatever body aches you have on youtube. But if you've already worked with a physical therapist who has given you a personal plan and then you can find the same routine in a video, I wanted to let you know that option is out there for you as a companion piece. It also verified to me how important the moves I was doing were. These are the two videos I used: Video 1 and Video 2

All the moves in the above videos strengthen your glutes so you should do them even if you're not injured. I came across this Popsugar article that said:
 "Activating your glutes is important, as they are a major muscle group that play a large role in almost every lower-body movement and are particularly important for squat and deadlift exercises," Wells said. Additionally, activated glutes can help you perform movements that recruit your glute muscles better because those muscles are turned on, and it can significantly help to improve your overall performance, she added.

The article has two of the moves I did everyday: Bridges and Kickbacks. In my weight lifting I always did a lot of squats and deadlifting, but never targeted toning exercises for the glutes. I wanted to share how important it is to tone your glutes as they are your biggest muscle group and hold your body together. 

While I was healing from my injury, here are all the products I used. It reminds me of a sketch from Deon Cole. He's 48 years old and said in determining if a woman is too young for him to date, he recommends to always get a woman that is old enough to have an "ointment drawer". lol  I feel like all my rehab products are my ointment drawer. lol




I had been using a foam roller to break up my fascia (connective tissue under the skin) but find these balls to give a more targeted massage to relieve soreness.

I first bought this in Thailand, and got more from a co-worker who traveled there last year, but I'm linking to an identical one on amazon. I've tried every pain relief patch from the drugstore and nothing compares to the strength of Tigerbalm. Ingredients: Camphor 25.0%, Menthol 8.0%, Eucalyptus Oil 13.7%, Clove Oil 1.43% Rock Sauce is very similar to this. 

Runner up for pain relief is this cryotherapy roll-on that delivers an arctic blast of cooling relief for sore muscles, back aches, stiff joints and more. Made with Menthol and Broad Spectrum CBD.

Plantar Fasciitis Relief Sock. I had a flare up at the beginning of this year, I bought these socks and wore them for my daily lunch walks and now its gone now.  I know they're pricey but they have sales all the time. It has compression in specific areas of the foot to ease heel and arch pain. It only comes in 2 colors.


7. Calf stretcher. One day the subway closed due to flooding and I had to walk 40 minutes uphill. The next 2 days my calves were sooo sore! I tried this device out and it was amazing! It stretched my calves out deeper then trying to stretch leaning up against a wall! The reviews say it works for plantar fasciitis as well.



A few fitness but not specifically injury related items I've bought recently:

8. I was always team leggings but then summer hit and I finally decided to jump on the biker shorts  trend.

9. While we're on the topic of health, I finally splurged and got myself a  Daily Harvest box full of smoothies. While I go to the farmers market every week, that doesn't always translate into taking the time to make smoothies. 

10. I needed myself a bright neon lime workout tank. 

Fitness Update

It's too hot for me to walk outside during my lunch break anymore. Twice a week I'll get out at 7am and walk when it's nice and cool.  Right now my regular fitness routine consists of online classes from Rumble Boxing (they also have IG live classes),  Zumba livestreams, weight lifting 4x a week and a stationary bike twice a week. I find that having a regular fitness schedule before work gets me energized and ready to start my day and forces me to take a lunch break. I do weights at 8am and some kind of cardio at 12pm, which makes up for the lack of steps I would normally do if I worked outside my home. With this schedule, my whole evening is free to sit on the couch uninterrupted. lol The first thing I do when I wake up is put on my workout clothes so I'm ready to go. I know a few people who sleep in their workout clothes but I can't do that. 

A few other online classes I've tried just a couple times are Jabs by GinaKick It by ElizaBosschick Dance Workout, Sydney's pilates inspired Housework class which is an intense class with sliders set to house music. 

I had a new a/c unit installed last year which blasts icy cold air but I only have one vent in my living room. So if I'm sitting on the couch I'm freezing and have to wrap myself in a blanket. But when I'm working out in my living room I just don't feel it's cold enough and don't want to crank up the temperature which will pad my bill. So instead I got this fan for my workouts. I put it on a stool so it's closer to neck level which I think is key. It's quiet but very powerful! 

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