I've been protecting my ankle for 5 years. That was the mistake.

Hi,

Two weeks ago I was meant to be climbing Mt Elbrus in Russia.

I cancelled it due to an ankle injury. The training I was doing to prepare for the climb kept flaring up my ankle, and I didn’t want to be stuck halfway up Mt Elbrus if it got really bad.

So myself and my girlfriend went to Albania instead and explored Theth. The hiking is incredible, but it made me reflect on my injury.

Here’s what I mean.

For about five years, my ankle hasn’t really bothered me. Not because it got better. Because I slowly stopped doing the things that aggravate it. I stopped running. I stopped hiking. I stopped anything with a lot of impact. Without ever deciding to, I built my days around not provoking it.

And this worked out for me, until I actually tested it.

The training I started earlier this year for Mt Elbrus tested it far more than walking the dogs, and it showed how much ground I’d lost over the past few years. Two weeks in Albania hammered it home. My left ankle was pinching on the hikes, and it even started to hurt walking around exploring the towns.

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Five years of avoiding the problem didn’t protect the joint. It weakened it.

I see this same pattern all the time with clients.

Someone hurts their back. They stop deadlifting. They stop picking up and playing with their kids. They get their wife to carry the shopping. In the short term they feel better, so it feels like the right call. But their back isn’t recovering, it’s getting weaker. Then something as simple as putting on their shoes in the morning causes a massive flare-up “out of nowhere”.

Long term, avoidance is never going to solve your injury.

“What you avoid controls you. What you face frees you.” Mark Manson.

My honest lesson from all of this: deal with the thing early, even when it isn’t screaming at you.

I could have started proper rehab on this ankle in 2020 or 2021 with a good physio. I didn’t. I was travelling, work was busy, and it wasn’t bad enough to force my hand. If I could go back, I’d have put the money and the boring daily work in back then. I’m doing it now instead, five years down the line, with a harder job in front of me.

So here’s my question for you this week.

What have you been working around?

What movement, what activity, what thing you used to do without thinking about it, have you cut out because that’s easier than dealing with it?

Reply and tell me. I read every one.

Conor