Pain-Free Athlete's Podcast
Are you tired of feeling pain? Are you recovering from a surgery? Do you want to learn how to stay active and pain-free? I'll share tips and strategies that can help you stay safe and pain-free while you're working out. I'll also interview experts in the field of fitness, rehabilitation and pain management.
Pain-Free Athlete's Podcast
Patience and Kindness: Lessons from our Three-Legged Hero
Missing an episode due to the chaos of the back-to-school season might have once sent me into a spiral of self-criticism, but through the growth and progress I’ve made in therapy, my reaction has evolved. This week, I share a vulnerable reflection on how therapy has shaped my response to small hiccups and celebrate a significant personal milestone—reading 49 books, inspired by the remarkable Jim Kwik. I also introduce you to the newest member of our family, Tripp, our courageous and resilient three-legged dog. Tripp’s journey post-amputation has been a profound source of learning about adjusting expectations and finding patience and kindness in the face of adversity. Join me in this episode as we uncover the lessons learned from Tripp’s resilience and how these experiences can inspire us to show compassion to ourselves and others. Your support means the world to me, and together, we’ll continue navigating our journeys with patience and kindness.
@djsfitnessevolution
Welcome to the Pain-Free Athlete Podcast. I'm your host, dana Jones. I am a certified personal trainer and I'm here to help you achieve your fitness goals without pain. In each episode, I'll share tips and strategies that will help you stay safe and pain-free while you're working out. I'll also interview experts in the field of fitness and pain management. So if you're ready to learn how to stay active and pain-free, then subscribe to the Pain-Free Athlete Podcast today.
Speaker 1:Hi everyone and welcome to the Pain-Free Athlete Podcast. I'm your host, dana Jones, and you know I forgot to record an episode last week which is kind of entertaining, at least for me. It was the first week of school or second week, but it was kind of just a mess and, yeah, I am much better now. But I didn't even realize that I didn't record the episode until Friday afternoon and I went oh wow, whoops, I had some extra time on my hands and I'm like, oh damn, all right, I forgot't record the episode until it was Friday afternoon and I went oh wow, whoops, I had some extra time on my hands and I'm all like, oh damn, all right, I forgot to record. So apologies if you missed me. I missed you obviously. Well, now I didn't, but now I do. But I'm proud of myself, right, because I got a grip and I was like we're all gonna survive One week without hearing me. You know, we're good and I, uh, it's okay to make mistakes. The funny thing is that if this happened five years ago, I would have probably lost my shit, right. I would have done something crazy to try to make up for it, and then I would have apologized, you know, 5 million times, um, you know, to the point that it would have been incredibly uncomfortable to anybody listening, and then I wouldn't have slept because I was ashamed of myself for making a mistake. You know, there's a lot of stuff going on in my head and it was kind of funny. And there's not that much going on in my head nowadays, which is kind of neat. But you know, let's hear it for alan on in therapy whoo, you know happens and we're all still alive.
Speaker 1:So anyway, uh, now that I have my schedule dialed in, I've been reading again. So I'm up to 49 books. Yay, let's uh give a quick shout out to jim quick, because that was pretty neat. I'm'm proud of myself for getting that far, because I don't know if I've ever read this many books, and it's pretty exciting and I'm pretty damn proud of myself, you know. So, a little self high five, little pat on the back, we're all good. But you know, there's things that I have to work on right, because we're always working on ourselves and whether it's being an athlete and working on a particular portion of your game or your skill or whatever it is, or just the mental stuff that always seems to be coming and going and you know coming and all those things Right, and so I've been working on, um, patience and kindness, and there's a reason for it, and so I'm going to tell you a little story and then we'll, we'll just ride with it.
Speaker 1:So we adopted a dog, uh, in July, and he's three, he has three legs and his name is trip and he's a cool little dude. I, I really enjoy him. Um, he's super kind. Uh, he just has like this you want to like hug him and kiss him, kind of, look on his face, and he's kind of, he's the dog that I wanted, except I didn't dial in. The little had to be four-legged thing, not that obviously it makes a difference, because I adopted him. He's here and we're working, we're working it all out, but, um, you know he's about 32 pounds, he's pretty athletic, so it's it's. He's the dog that I wanted. I wanted somebody who wasn't going to be threatening Um, I wanted somebody who I can take to school and can work with the kids. And I wanted somebody who I can take to school and can work with the kids and that we could take places and go and do things with, because he was cool and so we got him.
Speaker 1:So he's about 10 months old and how he lost his leg was that he got hit by a car and then they weren't able to do the repair, so they just decided it would be best for him to live with three legs and you know it doesn't affect him the way that I've read it's affected other dogs. Like there's no phantom limb pain. You know, I've read some really sad stories about some people who their dogs wake up crying in pain and it's just, it's really sad. And we adopted him about a week or so after his amputation surgery, which I didn't realize, like cause it's like, oh, he still has stitches. But I didn't understand. And then all of a sudden I was like, oh, I gotta get you know schooled on this real quick. Like first of all, I got to figure out. What the hell do you do with a tripod dog, like how is it different from having a dog with all four legs and which is something that is challenging? He was good because he allowed me to clean his wound, to keep it clean and dry and all the things. And you know, he was still a little drugged up because it takes a while for anesthesia to really get out of animal systems. I've realized, a lot longer than it takes. Well, maybe it does take about as long as humans. Anyway, excuse me. So you know we became the guardians of his recovery and it's been pretty neat.
Speaker 1:I joined a Facebook group for tripods, as they call them, and I started learning about what it's like to live with a three legged dog. So there was a couple of comments where people were like hey, they're just the same, you know, treat them as they are, like only humans get hung up on having three legs. You know, the dogs are fine, just treat them like normal dogs. And of course I realized after joining the Facebook group is that's not true, because I was taking him out for walks and I was expecting which I think is kind of funny because he's also 10 months old and clearly has been running wild because he's had no training and he's afraid of noises and all the things that we're working through. But I was taking him out on walks and I was just assuming that he was going to walk next to me and one day I came home and I was super pissed off because he didn't walk next to me and you know he's like pulling and he's spinning and he's doing all the things that an animal who's never been on the leash you know does, aside from the fact that you know I look like a jerk because he's got three legs and you know so the neighbors are probably shaking their head going she's neat, um, which is better than me dragging a 10 pound chihuahua around, which is usually what happens.
Speaker 1:So, anyway, yeah, my walking style is definitely changed with these animals, but I asked for help, which is yay me on the tripod page, and they were like, if it's a front amp, which he is, they don't walk normally and they need a longer leash because they need to run, and one woman described it as kind of like dog fishing, is that you let them run ahead of you, they wait for you until you catch up and then they run ahead again, and so it's kind of like this leapfrog leapfrog thing that they do and it's easier on their joints because if they're walking next to us we walk slowly and there's a lot of concussive force that happens in that front joint, the one that is taking the brunt of the 60% of the body weight that is all on the front end of a dog. And I was like, oh, so then I got him a longer leash and that kind of, and the expectation changed right. So I didn't have this expectation of him being by my side and being obedient and you know all those things. I was allowing him to run and kind of frolic and figure things out. And that was a big lesson for me because of the fact that I had this idea jammed in my head and I wasn't really I don't know maybe acknowledging him and acknowledging what he had been through and the challenges that he may be having in his brain and, of course, not being able to open his mouth and go Dana, you're being an asshole, I need to do something different. So the running feels better for him. He's super fast, which is super cool to watch and it's working out well and it's working out well.
Speaker 1:I just think that me trying to force him into things is like an old personality defect that is coming up, because, one, you know, think about it he's recovering from major surgery. Two, he's had so much trauma in the last how many months. Right, he was hit by a car. He had to deal with the pain of the injury not recovering. He had to have major surgery. Then he's separated from his brother, he was brought to a shelter and then he's taken from the shelter to come home with us, who have a very opinionated Chihuahua mix and two cats that could kind of kick his ass and kind of knew. Like, as soon as he walked in, they're like we're not afraid of you, um, which is kind of funny, because he like barks at them and they're just like yeah, you don't care about you, but I just had this agenda and it wasn't the right agenda for him.
Speaker 1:And I realized, like, dude, I treat myself the same way. Is that when I'm in a situation, say, I'm sick or whatever, that I have an agenda, right, I'm going to start going back to the gym, it's going to look like this, I'm going to, you know, and it never ends up being that way. And then I usually beat myself up about it because I expect myself to just jump right back into you know things with a hundred percent missing a leg and, you know, don't acknowledge the fact that I've been through some shit and I'm not the same person. This dog is not the same dog he was three months ago. I'm not the same person that I was five years ago.
Speaker 1:So, of course, that brings me back to the topic of patience and kindness. So how am I showing it to him? How am I showing it for him? Right, and and my you know, like dogs get it right, they feel your energy. If you're an asshole, they're like, ooh, that person's an asshole. Right, and they get a little nervous and they show it in their body language. Right, but if you're kind and you acknowledge the fact that he's been through some shit, right, I've been through some shit. And how am I going to show it to myself? How can I model that for him? How can I make him feel safe and comfortable? Right, how do I acknowledge my bravery?
Speaker 1:One of the students like saw him and the kid got kind of misty and he's like, he's so brave and I kind of at first I was like, oh yeah, whatever, you know, he's fine. And then I thought, well, damn, he is brave, right, like why am I trying to take that from him? You know he's allowed to wear his little badge of bravery for the fact that you know he didn't get killed hitting the car you know getting hit by a car and that he fell into the right hands of people that were able to care for him and take him to the appropriate vet who was able to do the surgery and allow him to continue having a good life. Because he's just a boy, right, he's a little boy and that is something that we need to acknowledge. The other thing is just looking at it's like how he's fearful of noises, right, and of course I'm trying to avoid using the language like you're okay, right, because clearly he's not okay, but I need to find a way to comfort him but still move on.
Speaker 1:And that was something that I've been thinking about, because I've been doing my pain-free comeback course shout out to Alec and Miriam and one of the things is like how do you get back, how do you redefine yourself as an athlete after something major has occurred and I consider TMS major, right, my migraines were a major event that really messed me up mentally, emotionally, physically, and how do I get back to my identity as an athlete my identity as an athlete, even though it's different than how I set out. And so one of the things I figured out is, you know, small, tiny bites, right, like how do you eat an elephant, one bite at a time? And that's kind of how fitness needs to be for me, because I'm still working through stuff, right, I'm still trying to figure out, like, if I do a workout, like what is the timeline of the workout where I overdo it? And then I have a setback and I'm realizing that, you know, workouts of 10 to 15 minutes are about right, where I'm allowed to push myself a little bit and I can even go over my line in that 10 to 15 minutes, but then I jump out and then so the next time I come back, I have more confidence and I go oh, I can do this Right, and that's what he needs to do. Right. Like I can't go and say we're going to do a 10 mile walk, let's go Right, we have to walk around the court and practice walking around the court, and we do that over and over, and now he's like comfortable in the court, he's easy, because I could tell his anxiety level by where his tail is, and so if his tail's up, we're golden, if that tail is between his legs, we're going home.
Speaker 1:And I wish I paid attention to myself as much as I paid attention to him. And that's because I don't want to be an asshole and I want to treat this dog and give him the confidence that I need to give myself, right I need, I want him to be a confident dog, because a confident dog is a well-behaved dog. A confident dog is, you know, a kind dog, right? Like, if they're not confident, then things can happen and I don't want him to hurt himself or hurt other people. And I kind of need to go back to me and say, like, how can you be confident? What can we do to build your confidence so that you can get back to where you need to be?
Speaker 1:And one of the things is like asking myself how am I stepping toward my fear? Because I always avoided it, right? I didn't like the feeling. I didn't like the you know, the poof in your stomach or the tightening of your chest or the clench of the teeth or any of that stuff. As soon as I felt those things, then my alarms went off and I was like, oh, I'm out right and I'm leaving right, because avoidance is wonderful. Right, that's what he did. Right, he saw the car and he ran the wrong way, probably, and that didn't work out for him and it didn't work out for me as well.
Speaker 1:So how can I step towards my fear instead of avoiding it? Little bits, right, do little things for short periods of time. Right, we're going to walk around the block. I'm probably annoyed that we're walking around the block, but I probably should be walking around the block with him instead of making him do it, or whatever the case may be, and that he and I are in this together, and you know.
Speaker 1:So I guess what I'm saying is that this fricking dog came to me because I needed a lesson, and I can have my belief about my own timeline, but the reality is is that the timeline is going to be there, and sometimes it's good.
Speaker 1:Things are going to go great and they're going to go quick and sometimes not so much, and there are going to go great and they're going to go quick and sometimes not so much, and there are going to be days when he can walk around the block and then maybe go and make it around the other block, and then there's going to be days that he hears a garbage truck and our asses are going home because that's loud and scary, but we're just going to keep walking and I think that's the best thing. The message I, the message I can give to you and the message that I need for myself just to remember, is that we're going to inch toward our fear and we're going to keep working on it and do the best we can. So that's all I have for you for this week. Thank you so much for listening. I appreciate you and I will talk to you next time.
