Should you ask for medical advice on the Internet for kettlebell injuries?

Should you ask for medical advice on the Internet for kettlebell injuries?

Should you ask for medical advice on the Internet for kettlebell injuries? If we ask Wikipedia what medical advice is, they will tell us that medical advice is the provision of a formal professional opinion regarding what a specific individual should or should not do to restore or preserve health.

Let’s assume that you sustained an injury during your training with kettlebells as a novice. You decided to look for answers in a kettlebell group with thousands of people, people that have gone from novice to advanced, people that probably have experienced or seen what you’ve experienced. You ask your question in the group only to be told by someone that you should not ask for medical advice on the internet, go see a professional, and not take advice from random people on Facebook. What should you do?

Should you listen, at first glance it sounds like solid advice right? Go and see a professional, what can be better than a professional?

 

Fact: There are people misrepresented as professionals and there are people that are not presented as professional but could pass as one. There are professionals and non-professionals that can be wrong and/or misdiagnose.

 

You should always ask yourself, what kind of professional are you seeing, what is he/she a professional in, how long has he/she been a professional, and what is the outcome that you’re looking for? Are you after a fix for the problem and cause, or just the problem? How long have you been seeing this professional without making any progress?

It is entirely possible to be told by a professional never to do XYZ again because he/she doesn’t really understand how to provide a progression for what you did wrong. It is entirely possible to be told that you can never perform a certain movement again, but some who have defied the opinion of a professional ended up doing whatever they were told they would never be able to do again.

 

I’m not saying that you should not go and see the right professional, not at all. But I am saying that you should definitely go and ask/search for medical advice in groups that contain thousands of people, trainers, professionals, coaches, and people who might have experienced the same issue. So, yes, you should dismiss it when you are told to not take advice from random people on Facebook, they’re really not random and are extremely targeted if you joined the right group/community. I am also saying that even after receiving advice from a professional you should still participate in public groups and double-verify whether the diagnosis and therapy are correct when you’re not making progress.

 

What Is A Good Approach?

What you should not do is take the first piece of advice that you get and act upon it. Always get more feedback and opinions. Always invest a lot of time into that which concerns YOUR body/health.  Always ask the right questions and provide the right information.  Always dig deeper. Always tread carefully and use common sense when you think you have the answer.

 

What Are The Benefits Of This Approach?

A lot of times people LEARN a lot from listening to other people that went through the same injury and that can be extremely valuable. You can even get to try new things that professionals who are not familiar with kettlebells might not know about.

If someone asks questions and looks for solutions in groups/communities then they usually will have more time to focus and analyze the injury than when seeing a paid professional can. After all, a professional can only invest as much time into the issue as they get paid for. With the help of groups like the ones we run, where beginners work with kettlebells and experience injuries, people can sometimes get more benefits than going to someone who has no idea what caused the problem in the first place or what can fix it. Yes, when seeing the right professional, they know how to diagnose and prescribe things to do or avoid, but if that professional doesn’t know about kettlebells or the high-learning curve that comes with it, they might not be able to prescribe a re-entry and progression for kettlebell training and rather tell you to stop what you’re doing all together. Yes, I am generalizing here.

You get information from many people who might have experienced the same thing as you, they will know the cause and the fix. You will be able to combine different strategies from several people and create your own, the one that works for you.

And last but not least, whether you see a professional or not, you will always gain an additional benefit when you do your own research as well. There is nothing better than a well-informed athlete who knows what caused the issue and what the fix was.

 

What Is The Best Approach?

Injury prevention is the best approach and making sure you don’t need to rehabilitate. A great way to stay injury-free with kettlebell training is to read up about all the areas which could potentially cause an injury. And last but not least, invest time into the basics and fundamentals of kettlebell training and/or become kettlebell certified. Buy our book Preventing Kettlebell Training Injuries if you’re interested in learning how to avoid kettlebell training injuries like the following, but not limited to:

  • Bruising
  • Banging
  • Blisters
  • Back pain
  • Calluses
  • Tendonitis
  • Tendinosus
  • Overtraining

 

Caveat

Sure, there will be people that take the first bit of advice they read and it could be completely wrong advice, but that would be a problem they created by not investing a lot of time into their research, not asking the right questions, etc. If you have a seriously debilitating issue then you should first and immediately seek help in person.

 

Summary

My point is, to say that you should ONLY go to a professional and not ask for advice in public groups that have thousands of people in it is IMHO bad advice. Blindly accepting what professionals tell you without doing your own research is also bad advice (yes, even if that advice comes from us). Asking, listening, researching, verifying, learning from others, tuning into your body and its issues can be more valuable than one or two quick visits to one professional.

 

Professionals

Professionals to go and see.

Chiropractor

Structural issues are not always easy to spot and are not always felt in the back. An issue in your lumber could translate into a pain in the leg, and so on.

  • Spinal/back issues
  • Long term pain in
    • Legs
    • Neck
    • Arms
    • Back
  • Loss of function
  • Long term numbness

Physio/Doctor/Hospital

Other sports injuries

  • Tears
  • Tendonitis
  • Sprains
  • Dislocation
  • Etc.

Kettlebell Professionals

A kettlebell professional can help identify the cause, plan your return to kettlebell training, and transfer knowledge to avoid injury.

  • Blisters
  • Bruising
  • Muscle aches
  • Etc.

 

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