How You Can Motivate Yourself to Move While Recovering from An Injury

Injuring your body is never a good time—especially since it often involves months of exercise therapy to get back into its prime condition. However, you are not alone. Here are many different ideas to help motivate you during your journey to healing.

While routine can sometimes provide much needed consistency during rough times, routines can also become quite monotonous. To help give yourself more motivation during this healing process, trying mixing things up a little.

Each day, plan something different you can do to get active—and try to make it either fun or rewarding. For example, one day you could walk around the town with friends, and the next day you could do some exercises while watching your favorite show. Do whatever you can to make your day something to look forward to.

Human beings are social creatures, whether we think we are or not. You don’t have to go through this healing process alone—nor should you. In fact, being able to share both the good times and the bad with someone else enhances your feelings of security and comfort. That is why you should always bring a partner with you, whether you plan to go on a walk or even attend physical therapy.

If you don’t live with someone or struggle finding someone to accompany you while exercising, a pet can also play the role of friend and exercise buddy. There is a reason why many people these days have an emotional support animal. You best bet will probably be a dog, as long as it can keep up with you while exercising. Of course, them being able to keep up depends on the kind of puppy you get. Make sure to do you research ahead of time, but some great therapy dogs include golden retrievers, German shepherds, and boxers.

Change usually doesn’t happen all at once. In fact, it is often so subtle that you barely even notice it. If you are feeling like your exercises aren’t actually helping ease your injury, it might just be because these changes are occurring very slowly. However, keep in mind that exercising is resulting in improvements.

So, in order to see these changes and thereby gain greater motivation to continue, try keeping a log of all of your exercises and symptoms. Be as detailed as possible and try not to miss any days. You will want to do this long term in order to really see your progress. This is also something you can share with your doctor or chiropractor. In fact, it can be really helpful for them to see where you are improving versus struggling in order to better guide you toward complete healing.

As previously stated, routine can either be a help or a hindrance to gaining greater motivation. However, if you feel that you are incredibly busy, or frequently forgetting to do your exercises, you may want to schedule times to get out and move.

Make sure that your routine lines up well with your schedule and your body’s natural clock in order to maximize the benefits of a routine. For example, if you are not a morning person, you probably shouldn’t schedule a walk at 5am. The goal is that your routine should make exercise a regular habit—one that is difficult to neglect or forget.

Now, you may or may not be a checklist kind of person, but if you are, don’t forget to add your exercises to your checklist. After all, there is something extremely rewarding and satisfying about being able to check off something from your list—so, hopefully, this will only further motivate you to get moving every single day. Make sure to keep your checklist somewhere where you frequently see it, whether it is on your phone, in an agenda, or on the kitchen fridge. And don’t end the day without checking off your exercises!

After an injury, you don’t necessarily need to go back to two-hour long workouts or walking three miles. If you push yourself too hard, you will only demotivate yourself (and possibly exacerbate the injury) in the process. It is okay to start small while you work yourself back to your body’s optimal state. It takes patience in order to heal. If you don’t know what to do in terms of exercises, there are several exercise videos and training programs online to give you ideas.

One idea could be setting alarms throughout the day to remind yourself to do 5-minute increments of small exercises. For example, if you work at a desk job, set several alarms throughout the day to remind you to stop and do a couple of stretches or jumping jacks—whatever is best for your injury.

What harm is there in a little trick to get yourself moving around more after your injury? It may be just the thing your need to get on your feet again. One of the best ways to trick yourself into exercising is doing things that require movement but aren’t necessarily exercises. And the more you enjoy the activity, the more you are able to trick your brain into moving through the pain.

So, if you love going to the mall, get a couple friends together to go shopping. You may walk up to several miles at the mall—all without even knowing it. Or, if you enjoy gardening, you could tend to your garden—all without realizing that you are actually stretching and lifting in the process.

Doing exercise therapy after an injury can be really difficult. It can be extremely painful or at least very discomforting and tedious. You must remember that exercising after an injury is a difficult thing—something that deserves to be rewarded. So, as you make goals to exercise, make sure that you also plan several rewards for every checkpoint you reach. That will hopefully motivate you even more to keep going when it gets hard.

In the end, when the pain or discomfort feels like too much to bear, know that you can do it. Do whatever it takes to obtain the healing that your body deserves. After all, you are much stronger than you realize.

Seeing a chiropractor can be a great way to alleviate some of the pain from your injuries. Make an appointment with us today!