Dealing with injuries is wretched. Everyone knows that the sensible thing to do is take it slowly, pay attention to medical advice, don't to anything before you're sure it's safe, etc. etc. ... and it's very very boring.
Last week I went to my over-55s ballet class (which is brilliant, by the way). One of the dancers - a very good one - was recovering from major surgery and had been told not to do violent exercise for - can't remember how long, but the time period was a few days away from elapsing. She said she was sure it would be OK, and danced, beautifully and energetically, and seemed to be fine.
BUT I DON'T THINK THIS IS SENSIBLE.
For a couple of reasons:
If you ignore advice, you're an idiot and only yourself to blame if something goes wrong. This is with the proviso that you trusted the person giving you the advice in the first place. If you didn't, it makes much more sense to get advice from a (reliable) second source rather than drift ahead on the basis that things will probably be OK.
Once you get to anything like my age, everybody knows that it takes longer to heal. Some doctors, some nurses, use standing healing times for things like breaks and sprains, and this doesn't always work. So leaving a bit more time to recover probably makes sense and will probably do not harm.
Oh, but it's depressing not being able to get outside and run about. I take some inspiration from an oldish guy who went to a gym I used to go to, and who was waiting for a hip replacement. Interminably, as it seemed. He was in quite a lot of pain and getting increasingly disabled, but he kept turning up and doing upper body exercises. Said it wasn't great but it made him feel better than not doing it.
What a hero.
On a different subject, I had a great run this morning. Very slow, not very long, grey skies, a bit of rain, beautiful countryside. Then home for a fried egg on toast and plenty of coffee. You can't beat that!
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