Have you ever heard of a compensatory injury before? Perhaps even worse, have you ever experienced a compensatory injury before?
Several years ago now, I was recovering from a minor flare up in my right knee. I now wear a knee sleeve, and always stretch thoroughly before I play basketball, however, once upon a time before my AGE became an issue (a lot of basketball injuries have to do with a torn ACL…my injuries are due to my AGE…see what I did there?? ), I didn’t wear a knee sleeve, and I rarely took the time to stretch. After I had been playing for a while, I noticed that I was really limping up and down the basketball court. Because I was instinctively trying to protect my right knee, I gradually noticed that my left hip started to become sore. The limp became a hobble, and I realized very quickly that I was going to have to shut myself down for a little while to recover. 
The injury to my hip was compensatory by nature, as I was trying to make up for the weakness in my right knee! Instead of taking the proper steps for treatment, care and avoidance, I tried to make up for my injury by over compensating on the opposite side of my body, which inevitably led to a new injury on my good ole hip!
And so it goes many times in life. Because of negligence, or stress, or ignoring problems that keep nagging away at us, we fail to get the proper rest, care, or treatment, and we end up with compensatory injuries!
For example, you suffer a relational injury on your job. You’re not meeting the quotas. You’re not performing as good as the rest of the employees. You’re not able to operate in your “sweet spot”. And now, management begins to crack down on you. Punishing you. Threatening to terminate your job. Thus creating more pressure as you try to keep up.
Meanwhile, at home, your relationship with your spouse suffers. Because of the injury at work, now all of a sudden, a compensatory injury flares up with new found stress and tension between your spouse. And now, because of that injury, another compensatory injury appears between you and your children. You continue to force things on the job, thus resulting in problems with the spouse, and now, the innocent by-standers, your children, suffer from a relational injury with you as well.
I write this post to raise awareness to faithful, loving men and women who are just trying to get through another day on the grind of life. Many times, we’re too busy to take out the time to have a sabbath in our lives. We feel that we just don’t have time to rest and recover, even though we’re flying through life at a blistering pace.
So what do you do? For starters, have a conversation. Granted, it might be a tough, difficult conversation to have, but good communication can be the start to avoiding further compensatory injuries and lead you back to a path of good health!
Not to belabor the point, but find rest for your weary soul. Everyone has a breaking point! Your emotional, mental, relational, and even spiritual health depends on you taking, no MAKING time, to rest and recover. It MUST be a priority in your life!
And finally, there’s no point in injuries that you suffer becoming injuries that your loved ones also become infected by. I read a long time ago in a book by Dale Carnegie to live your life in “air-tight” compartments. In other words, separate and filter your problems on the job from becoming problems for your spouse and especially your children.
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