Finding the ONE: My Practitioner Journey
For those of you who work closely with me, you’ll know I’m pretty much an open book. From relationship things to trying a menstrual cup for the first time, you’ll most likely hear about it. Being the over-sharer that I am, I’ve talked a bit here and there about what my coach Chris calls “Elbow Gate”; an injury I’ve been struggling with for a year now (Happy Anniversary). The whole thing has been quite the ride, and it’s worth hearing about if you’ve got a persistent niggle or THING that just doesn’t seem to want to quit. Finding a practitioner who you connect with and who’s approach makes sense for you is not necessarily as easy as just going to the guy down the road (he may be totally fine, but be prepared to shop around!)
Necessary disclaimer here: everyone I have worked with, regardless of how beneficial I personally found their approach to be, is a highly qualified and intelligent professional who does great work with many. This is in no way intended to be a critique on them or what they offered in terms of intervention, it’s simply an illustration on how there is more than one way to skin a cat (sorry Graham). Sometimes it can take a while to find a person that is the right fit for you, but you’ll probably learn a bunch along the way. Just think of Eliot from MAFS heading into his second ‘marriage’, but not for too long because he’ll annoy you.
So, to go back to when Elbow Gate began, I was heading into competition prep for a weightlifting event in Auckland in February 2024, when I began to develop persistent pain in my right arm. It was difficult to pinpoint exactly where it was coming from, as it seemed to change location and intensity at random, so the initial figuring out what was wrong with it part was a whole journey in itself. After initially seeing Practitioner 1, the feedback and approach was to add in some rehab work based on the thinking that the elbow itself wasn’t the actual cause, and that the pain was coming from tightness elsewhere, like my neck and traps (a fair assessment). The other thought was that my state of constant stress was elevating the symptoms, and that my anxiety around the injury was essentially causing a psychosomatic pain response. So I kept going, as I do, and managed to keep training towards this competition, thinking that the intervention had been helpful and that there wasn’t a whole lot more to it. In retrospect, my body had just become so used to tolerating what eventually became fairly significant pain that it just kept doing what it needed to regardless. Denial has a lot to answer for here also.
After this competition, where I actually had a lot of fun, things went downhill physically and I became despondent over what appeared to be a worsening of the symptoms, so sought out a new guy, Practitioner 2. Their approach was complete confidence, that they would ‘fix’ the issue in a matter of weeks, and that an aggressive weekly manual therapy would essentially resolve the issue. After a period of 6 weeks of forcibly straightening my arm, my symptoms and training became further impacted and I returned to Practitioner 1, who suggested I get an MRI so we could see what the heck was actually going on. You may be wondering why that wasn’t my first port of call, and that’s a fair question. From my understanding (and if you attended Keiren’s workshop he goes into more detail) getting a scan isn’t always the best option, given that often whatever shows up isn’t actually the cause of the pain, and in the sense of maintaining a positive and open mindset when approaching an injury (very important) results of a scan can add confusion and potentially highlight something which has zero to do with anything. Ignorance can be bliss, basically. If you’re also a fan of denial, this is a solid approach.
Anyway. The MRI showed that I had osteoarthritis in my right elbow, and degeneration of the joint had caused a bunch of little bits of cartilage to break off and float around in there (I picture bubble tea) which basically stopped my arm from straightening, causing the rest of my arm to become overloaded and send random pain signals to my brain telling me to put the heavy thing DOWN. Unfortunately, at this point I had committed to competing in September in Finland, where I would attempt to pick up the heaviest thing I could. In preparation for this event I went absolutely nuts on anything I thought could help, I spent hours in the sauna, made changes to my diet, tried various inflammatory treatments, and had regular massages and physical therapy. Despite this, I got to Finland in so much pain I couldn’t sleep, and almost pulled out of competition I had flown across the world for. Whilst I managed to make a total, it was far less than I had been aiming for, and the whole thing was so ridiculously underwhelming that the highlight of my trip was discovering an op shop at Helsinki airport on my way home (I got a really cool T-shirt). It’s crazy what your body can do when you feel you don’t have a choice, but putting myself through this insanely painful and stressful experience is not something I want to ever go through again. Post Finland it was a ‘that’ll do pig’ situation in terms of my body’s capacity for lifting and, based on a recommendation from a fellow athlete, I went to Practitioner 3.
Contrary to the guidance from my previous guys, Number 3 assured me that my own foolhardiness had absolutely resulted in a worsening of the condition of my elbow, making me feel a bit silly that I’d listened to only the advice I’d wanted to hear, which was that I should keep training and that a lot of the pain was in my head. Whilst I don’t disagree that pain symptoms are 100% exacerbated by stress and anxiety, there was a bit more going on here than too much work and not enough play; namely an elbow joint that looked like a bowl of cereal. Practitioner 3 referred me to an orthopaedic surgeon, and talked me through some options in terms of surgical interventions that may be possible to potentially resolve Elbow Gate once and for all. Ironically, they told me that if I was to do ‘normal things’ with my upper body, like sit at a desk, I would probably have never even noticed it in the first place. Just when you thought your strength training pursuits were improving your joint health!
So here we are, in February 2025, on the brink of seeing Practitioner 4; an orthopaedic surgeon. It’s been months of frustration, confusion, and not knowing who to believe. I’ve kept training, I’ve modified things when needed, and I’ve stopped if things hurt too much. I’ve also given a lot less fucks. I’m at the point now that I don’t feel my identity is connected to my training, and that whether or not there can be an improvement made that results in being able to return to competing, I still have the same qualities and things that are good about me. Being strong, resilient and capable of doing hard things are not weightlifting only traits, so if I’m to take anything away from this whole shitshow, it’s that. My other piece of advice is that if something doesn’t feel right, trust that. Whether you choose to push through it or not is your choice, and I have full respect for either approach. Sometimes it’s go hard, sometimes it's go home, and only you can take action either way.
Here’s some essentials for me when it comes to finding a practitioner I can trust:
I need to feel HEARD. If I get the sense that my guy is dismissive or habitually forgets important pieces of my puzzle, it’s a left swipe for me.
There needs to be follow up. Whether that’s an email to my coach, or sending through prescribed rehab exercises, it’s important to me that everyone is on the same page.
Admitting you DON’T KNOW the answer is absolutely okay and I respect this humility so much. If I feel that my guy would rather see me for weeks on end than refer me on to someone who may be more relevant, that’s a big red flag.
I need to feel my guy is genuinely invested in my journey and my goals. Telling me I could just not do the thing I love the most is not a vibe for me. Telling me we’ll do whatever it takes to figure it out is.
ALL OF THIS can also apply to finding a partner. You’re welcome ;)
