Anxiety and finding the balance for risk tolerance
 

Anxiety is obviously a big issue for a lot of people with PCS. Clearly, the anxiety is problematic as stress hormones like cortisol and the mental effort of worrying are not helpful for recovery.

Unfortunately, "not worrying" can be difficult for a lot of people. I personally have obsessive-compulsive disorder. Not such a great combination with a head injury. I frequently worry about hitting my head and reinjuring myself and/or prolonging my recovery. I'm working with a therapist and making a great effort to deal with my anxiety but it can be a slow and painful process with OCD.

I'm making this post to both deal with some anxiety about today and also to pose a broader question about risk tolerance.

I was at the doctor's office today and the doctor tapped me 3 times quite firmly on my forehead and 3 times on my cheekbone with her 3 biggest fingers together. I'm having a hard time dealing with the worries that this could be problematic.

How does everyone view risk tolerance? The main guideline that I've heard is to avoid contact sports while still symptomatic. I'm definitely avoiding anything like that, but are those the only activities that you would avoid in regards to minimizing the chance for reinjury?

If you were getting something checked at the doctor and the doc said "Let me know if it hurts when I tap your head," would you ask not to have your head tapped? Are there any other scenarios in between contact sports and just living your life that you would avoid? Might you avoid busy public transportation or moving quickly in tight spaces? How about hugging people that you know often make big or erratic movements? Do you find yourself being extra careful in certain situations?

I would not be concerned about the head taps.

You can make conscious choices ahead of time to not play contact sports. You cannot always make such choices ahead of time. You can change how you move about life. I suggest slowing down and trying to take on an intentional movement or move on purpose behavior. From this I mean, If you are going to do a movement, move like you have a stiff back or a sore body or such. We tend to move without thinking. Moving intentionally or purposely means we think about each movement.

I learned this because I have a back that does not like quick movements. I also needed to lift heavy objects, 100 to 145 pounds. I needed to climb into tight spaces too and twist and turn. I am also claustrophobic. All of these combine to cause me to move with purpose.

I am not fearful of movement. I know that if I move with purpose, I can do almost any move I need to do.

Learn safe movement skills. Use your OCD to become disciplined to move safely and with purpose.

If you use anxiety to try to prevent bumps, your anxiety will reduce your ability to move with purpose and even reduce your coordination and you will increase your risk of bumps.

A comparison is weight loss. Most who want to lose weight focus on not eating too much. Their anxiety about not eating causes them to want to eat. A successful way to lose weight is to focus on eating healthy food. By simply eating healthy food and not eating unhealthy food, the weight loss is more successful.

So, learning to move with purpose can be just as successful.

Accept that you will occasionally bump your head. That is a part of life you cannot prevent.