The Blind Spot

In football, there’s a dangerous area for a quarterback. It’s often called the “blindside” or a blind spot. It’s the area behind the quarterback that he can’t see as he’s preparing to throw the ball.

I got hit once from my blind spot. I played quarterback, and not for long, when I was a kid. We were playing – no helmet or pads – full contact in one of the local playgrounds.

Yeah, I know that would never happen now and for good reason. But back then, playing football or “sandlot football” without gear was just what you did as a kid.

Well, I got slammed from behind and sustained a concussion. I guess it was a bad one because I don’t remember it and my parents told me I didn’t remember much of anything for several hours.

But most “blind spots’ in life don’t usually expose you to such great risk. But a blind spot, as I am about to explain, can increase your chance of injury or prolong your recovery from one.

A common problem with clients following a procedure like Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) or Stem Cell Therapy (SCT) is adding what I call an “Elevated Risk Event” (ERE) too soon after the procedure.

Following PRP or SCT, there’s a window of time – generally 60 days minimum – in which you must be careful about how much load or force you expose your body to. Most people think of that load as part of an exercise program but it’s also things like traveling, certain social events, hobbies, sitting or standing too long or certain work activites.

During this 60 day window, the new cells formed from PRP or SCT are fragile. You can injure those cells and reduce or eliminate any possible gain from the procedure by adding an ERE to your calendar.

The clients I’ve seen who are frustrated by their lack of progress, most of the time, have a large blind spot around an ERE.

They usually add an activity, an ERE, (traveling is often a common one) too soon, too much. As a result, they compromise the procedure, get less improvement and more frustration.

Well, the blind spot is not that a client adds an ERE but rather the reason why he or she does.

At some point, you have to add these kinds of functions – traveling, social events, work-events – back into your life but the criteria used to make that decision is both the healing timeline (at least 60 days) and symptoms no greater than a 2 on a scale of 10 (where 10 is the worst pain imaginable).

So, why would someone add something back into their life with, for example, hip or knee hip pain, on average of 3-5 out of 10 (where 10 is the worst pain imaginable), before the 60 days has passed?

Motivation can be a complex thing but we often choose to do something for what we get out of it or what it helps us avoid.

In the case an ERE, the choice to do something you shouldn’t is a little of both. It often helps us avoid looking at a deeper problem and it provides us with a sense of freedom or helps reinforce our sense of self.

Many people complain that inactivity, time off from exercise, or lack of travel – to quote a client of mine – “drives me nuts”.

It’s rarely helpful to tell someone, “Well, just stop (fill in the blank) until your body is ready. Stop running, don’t travel, don’t go to parties. Just stop doing all those things until your body is capable.”

No, that doesn’t work.

Ever.

Instead, the question to ask yourself (or if you’re a practitioner, ask your client) is “Why do I feel this need to do (fill in the blank) when I still hurt and I know it’s too soon?”

And after you answer this question, keep asking yourself, “And why is that?” four more times. You’ll get close to the real reason.

Thanks for reading.

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