Too Healthy for Rehab, Not Healthy Enough for Fitness

Nobody Seems to Know What to Do With Me Now

Your physical therapist says you're doing well. Your medical doctor tells you it's been long enough for your injury to have healed. Nothing stands out on your MRI. Maybe you've even been discharged from treatment because you "don't need it anymore."

Everyone is telling you that you're doing better. And they're right.

But every time you try to get back to exercising, something still feels off.

Your shoulder still pinches when you reach overhead. Your knee feels better, except when it's time for a run. You join a workout class excited to try something new, but half the movements hurt too much to do. Your back doesn't stop you from living your life, but it definitely doesn't trust you with a workout.

You're not in an acute crisis anymore, but you're not exactly thriving either.

This is a situation that countless people find themselves in, yet very few people ever talk about it. You're no longer injured enough to need traditional, “starting at square one” rehabilitation, but you're not healthy enough yet to confidently return to training, sports, or the activities you actually enjoy. Especially not at the level you used to.

Fitness Assumes You’re Ready

To be clear, this article is not a criticism of personal trainers, coaches, or gyms. There are many excellent professionals doing phenomenal work.

But the thing is, most fitness programs are designed for people who are already healthy enough to participate.

Group classes assume a certain baseline level of capacity. Online programs assume your body can tolerate the training. Even individualized coaching often assumes you're starting from a relatively healthy place.

There is a transitional stage between rehab and fitness, and most fitness environments assume you've already crossed it.

But right now you’re not looking for immediate PRs, you're trying to figure out how to trust your body again. Those are two very different challenges.

The reality is that most fitness programs are great at helping healthy (and by healthy I just mean people without a limiting musculoskeletal issue) people get fitter. Which is awesome and necessary. But they're not necessarily designed to help someone figure out how to go from “I’m kind of better, but not really,” back into full-on training.

Healthcare Assumes You’re Better

On the other side of the equation, traditional healthcare is generally designed to help people recover from the earliest stages of injury. Which is obviously incredibly important and necessary.

But once the major symptoms improve, many people find themselves without a clear roadmap for what comes next.

For most people, pain relief is not really the end goal. It’s the starting point. People don't just want less pain, they want the freedom to get back to the activities that matter to them.

Being able to get through your workday at your desk job isn't the same thing as being able to train hard in the gym, play pickleball three times a week, spend an afternoon wrestling with your kids on the floor, or hike for six hours on vacation.

The healthcare system is generally focused on getting you out of pain. 

The fitness industry is generally focused on helping you perform better.

But very few systems are specifically designed for the transition between those two worlds.

And unfortunately, this is where many people need the most guidance. Not because they're severely injured, weak, or broken, but because they haven't yet developed the mobility, strength, capacity, and confidence needed to bridge the gap.

Nobody Shows You What Comes Next

Most people leave rehab knowing how to do a handful of exercises that were helpful at a certain point in their recovery. But eventually people want to do more than theraband exercises and “stability” drills. They want to get back to doing real-life things.

They want to deadlift. They want to run. They want to golf. They want to play tennis. They want to train jiu jitsu. They want to chase their kids around the backyard without worrying about paying for it the next day.

The problem is that very few people are ever shown how to make that transition.

They're told what exercises to do when they're injured. They're told what workouts healthy people should do. But the process of bridging the gap between rehab and fitness is often left up to trial and error.

And so people get left trying to navigate the gap between rehab and fitness on their own. Sometimes they figure it out. Many don't. And when they don't, they often assume something is wrong with them.

In reality, the problem may be that the system was never designed to help them through this stage in the first place.

If you haven't already, be sure to check out our previous article, The Purgatory of Rehab: Why So Many Injuries Keep Coming Back, where we explore how people end up getting stuck in this cycle to begin with.

In our next article, we'll share the philosophy that drives everything we do at Chicagoland Spine and Sport, and why we believe the future of movement care lies in bridging the gap between injury, rehab, and fitness.

Ready to Take The Next Step?

If you're currently dealing with an injury, recurring pain, or simply feel stuck somewhere between rehab and fitness, we'd love to help.

You can schedule an appointment with Chicagoland Spine and Sport by clicking the link below.

And if you found this article helpful, be sure to follow us on social media for more content on injury recovery, mobility, strength training, and staying active for the long haul.

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