I’m hoping to inspire someone today!! Heather has been an inspiration to me, so I am paying it forward!

I am 19 months post TBI, and when I fell I suffered severe whiplash, torn muscles in my neck, shoulder, and chest, and dislocated my sternum by about 2″. My torso was completely twisted, I couldn’t stand up straight for over a year.

We tried integrating light weight training into my routine several times, but it kept flaring up that darn whiplash muscle so we would back off. I started doing very gentle yoga about 3 months ago……. the doctors kept telling me that activity is the best way to overcome vertigo (which seems counter intuitive) and yoga seemed the best place to start, as I could completely control which moves I did.

Within about two months I started noticing my vertigo wasn’t as severe, and my neck muscles were relaxing. I was also starting to see definition in my shoulders and chest again, and the inflammation had seeme to settle down. We didn’t want to push too hard, so I just started adding cardio into my routine at the point.

This past week we added very light weight resistance into my workout. The first day, my neck got pretty angry….. but I iced it and that relieved it. The neck is still being finicky with me, but I am powering thru it. It isn’t unbearable like the whiplash injury was, although it may take me out for a day if it gets really bad and triggers a headache. ICE IS MY BEST FRIEND!

I hope that you read this and maybe are inspired to pull out the yoga mat and do some light stretches, or maybe go for a longer walk than usual, or maybe you’re even ready to grab some weights. Whatever it is, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. It will tell you what it can and can’t do. But the best thing you can do for your TBI is to GET UP AND GET MOVING!!! (and have ice packs waiting in the wings). Also remember to KEEP HYDRATED, our brains love water!!!