OW! Why does it hurt? How do I fix it?

If you're anything like me, you probably have some sort of chronic injury or the makings of one. Regardless of how careful you are there will always be some unexplained ache, twinge, crack or pop. There are literally thousands of reasons for why this happens.The explanation may exceed your desire to know. It hurts and I want to fix it now. I don't care why it hurts. I just want it to stop. What's important to realize is that it's part of the journey and not necessarily a bad thing.When I first heard this I thought it was some half-baked hokey motivational pep talk. Now after several surgeries and numerous injuries I look back and see, that without these injuries, I would not have enjoyed the success that I did in my life. It's such an important part. So many of us want to forget it, put it behind us and move on. Moving on without learning the lesson can doom one to repeat it. Goals and failure to meet those goals have volumes to teach us. I will use myself as an example as I have a plethora of experience injuring myself. I will move from the most recent and go backwards. Right now I am at a standstill in my powerlifting training. Before I delve into the gory details, let me say that toughing it out needs to be tempered with intelligent guidance. The difficulty in finding this guidance is that it requires some leg work on your part,by leg work I mean research. If you have the injury chances are someone before you has had it and recovered from it. Many are philanthropic and willing to share their harrowing journey and return from the brink with us. I've found that only by seeking out those who have fallen and gotten back up, can we begin to make informed decisions about how to recover. I love to lift heavy. It gets me completely out of my head and leaves me with a longlasting sense of accomplishment. It also fuels me to return and train harder the next workout. Now by heavy, I am referring to what is heavy for each individual. This is not a technical training article, so I urge you to seek guidance before you suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous trauma. So often I ignore the subtle hints my body is sending me. By doing this I invite louder and more direct instructions about what needs to change. Slowly over a period of 2 years I ignored pain in my left hip. It wasn't until I couldn't walk without limping did I begin to admit something was wrong. The root of the injury stemmed from a strength imbalance as so often they do. I bowl 2-3 nights a week and over time my slide leg got to be much stronger. Now this is usually my weak leg from previous a surgery. Bowling not only strengthened it , but made it so much stronger than my left that when I squatted and deadlifted it began to take over. My left hip and glute stopped working. Now that I am aware, I see there were everything but cowbells and foghorns alerting me to a problem. Being tough sometimes is taking several steps back in order to walk forward without a limp. I am overly general on these topics of training and injury rehab, because I am in the process of writing a book about this very subject. As you can tell I like to tell stories. I both teach and learn through these stories. There is a method to my madness. If you're someone who has been trained by me, some of these stories may sound familiar. They all contain a link in the chain that has led me to concepts I feel bridge the gap from mind to body. Though it may be a toll road, it will get you to where you want to go. How you piece these links together is up to you. I invite you to stand on my shoulders to get a better view what's to come. Listen to your body. It has stories of its' own that will most certainly be valuable and entertaining. Submitted for your approval. Jody