How to Effectively Heal During Holidays

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Last Updated: December 26th, 2024 at 11:05 pm

In last week’s email, I talked about how you can use the holidays as a time to build consistency to build momentum into the new year. That message was for those who aren’t dealing with any pain…

If you’re entering the holiday season and you’re battling a nagging injury that just won’t seem to go away, the holidays are a great time to sit down and rest. With all the family and friend festivities as well as the cold Chicago winter, this is a unique opportunity to do nothing.

Maybe aggressively resting is exactly what you need over these next 2 weeks…
It’s always hard to take time off running in the middle of the summer training season. I work with a lot of patients during the summer who are training for fall races. Those summer months can be filled with training just enough to make sure you stay on track without making your injury worse. An annoying limbo.

Conversely, now is the PERFECT time to do nothing. If you’re dealing with an injury or pain that gets worse with running, don’t torture yourself. These next two weeks serves as a wonderful opportunity to aggressively rest whatever is going on.

You really don’t have that much to gain by continuing to run through the pain right now. But you have everything to gain by doing nothing.

The paradox is real. Runners are used to MAKING things happen. But when it comes to nagging pains, sometimes the best thing to do is hurry up and rest!

Now is a great time to do that 🙂

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays to all!

Your best is yet to come!

Dr. Michael

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