Why Am I Scared to Exercise After Injury?

Sarah Gilbertson
2 days ago
5 min read

Woman walking outdoors, reflecting on returning to exercise after injury — After injury, movement often returns more slowly than confidence.

You've been cleared.

The scan looks good. The physio says you can start building again. The injury has healed.

So why does your chest tighten when you think about going back to the gym?

Why does your body brace the moment you consider that first run or going back to your regular classes?

This is what happens when your nervous system learned that movement led to pain.

Being scared to exercise after injury is your nervous system staying protective in a context it hasn’t yet learned is safe.

Even when tissues heal, your body keeps scanning for danger - trying to prevent a repeat of what happened last time.

I used to push through everything. Now I know that my body pushes back.

Medical Clearance Doesn't Mean Your Body Feels Ready

This is the gap that rarely gets explained.

Doctors and physios work with tissues, timelines, and physical healing. Your nervous system works with memory, safety, and lived experience.

It doesn't read discharge notes. It responds to what it remembers.

You can be medically signed off and still feel like your system is waiting for something to go wrong.

That's the space where many women get stuck.

The Recovery Gap: Between Being Cleared and Feeling Ready

This is the territory I see again and again.

After physio ends. After clearance is given. But before the body feels safe enough to move freely again.

I call this the Recovery Gap.

In this space, you might feel:

Hesitant before movement
Micro-bracing without knowing why
Confused about why confidence hasn't returned yet
Pressured to "just get on with it" - either by your own inner voice or others

This isn't a confidence problem. It's a capacity problem.

Your nervous system may still be carrying more load than before - physically, emotionally, hormonally, or all three.

You don't need fixing. You need context for what's happening.

Medical clearance creates intellectual certainty. But confidence after injury isn’t cognitive - it’s embodied.

Your nervous system doesn’t update because you understand the scan or trust the diagnosis.

It updates when your body feels that movement can begin, change, and stop - safely, on your terms.

Why Your Body Still Acts Like the Injury Is Happening

Injury teaches your system fast.

Pain. Shock. Disruption. The loss of control. The "will this ever feel normal again?" spiral.

Even when the muscles and bones have healed, your body can stay on high alert because it's doing its main job: preventing a repeat of the original injury or illness.

So when you try to return to exercise, your body isn't thinking about your sensible rehab plan.

It's scanning for risk.

And if it senses "too much, too soon", it will do what bodies do:

Brace
Hesitate
Avoid
Find a distraction - need the loo / a snack / to reorganise the spice rack

When Midlife Makes the Gap Wider

For many women, injury recovery doesn't happen in isolation.

It happens alongside:

Perimenopause or menopause
Disrupted sleep
Cumulative stress and responsibility
Previous injuries or losses
Identity shifts around work, care, or capability

Oestrogen fluctuations affect stress tolerance and recovery. Long periods of "holding it together" reduce nervous system flexibility.

The result? Less room to absorb challenge - even when your body looks healed.

When fear shows up, it's because your system is asking for a different pace.

How to Start When You're Scared to Exercise After Injury

Being told to "just start small" or "think positive" usually misses the point.

What most women tell me is: "I don't want another coping tool. I want clarity".

Because once you understand what's actually happening in your body, everything changes.

Most medical approaches still focus on the physical: bones healed, tissue recovered, strength rebuilt.

But what about the fear that shows up when you think about moving?

The hesitation your body learned? The way your nervous system is still on high alert.

These aren't weaknesses to push through. They're responses that need understanding first.

Think about how we've finally started talking about menopause - not sweeping it under the rug, but naming what's happening, educating women about the changes, giving context for what feels confusing or wrong.

The same applies here. Understanding what your nervous system is doing, why your body still feels protective, what capacity actually means - that's where lasting change starts.

From there, you can begin to rebuild trust in your body's signals. Learn what pain is telling you versus what protection is telling you. Expand your capacity and choice again.

Education isn't the nice-to-have. It's the foundation.

What Helps Most in This Phase: Listen, Respond, Choose

Rebuilding trust with your body after injury isn't about pushing through or staying safe. It's about re-establishing a conversation that injury interrupted.

Listen

Pay attention to what your body is actually saying - not what you think it should be able to do.

Tightness, hesitation, bracing, ease. These aren't obstacles to ignore. They're information.

Respond

Acknowledge what you're feeling without immediately trying to fix or override it.

"My body is bracing" isn't a problem to solve. It's a signal your nervous system is still scanning for threat.

Choose

What happens next can be shaped by what you’re noticing as you move.

That decision might be quiet or practical. It might look like:

stopping earlier than you planned
continuing, but at a different pace
adapting the movement
or choosing to leave altogether

What matters isn’t the option you take, but the fact that it’s yours.

This is where agency comes back online.

You’re responding, not reacting.

Your nervous system isn’t taking over - it’s being listened to.

Because bodies don’t learn from reassurance or pep talks. They learn from experiences where choice and control were present.

When Exercise Feels Like More Than Just Exercise

Often, it's not really about the movement itself.

It's about what exercise represents now:

Exposure
Vulnerability
The possibility of re-injury
The fear of disappointment
The memory of pain
The loss of your old identity ("I used to be someone who just did things")

After my own back surgery, recovery took years - not because my back wasn't healed, but because I had to learn to trust my body again. I became a Nordic walking instructor when running was taken off my menu. I still teach Pilates - as much for my benefit as for those I teach.

And it wasn't one approach that worked. It was a range of activities, adapted and rebuilt around what my body could actually do.

This is what physiotherapist Peter O'Sullivan calls Cognitive Functional Therapy: understanding the beliefs driving your protective responses, then rebuilding movement confidence through experience, not prescription.

Movement became safe when someone finally listened to the whole story, not just my symptoms.

And I learned something important: this wasn't about getting back to my old self. It was about building trust in the new version of me.

Something Has Shifted

If exercise feels scary after injury, it's because something fundamental has changed.

You want to understand what's happening, not fight your way through it.

That's not weakness. That's wisdom.

Recovery doesn't end when treatment stops. Sometimes, that's when the deeper work begins.

If This Resonates

Many women describe exactly this: "I've been told I'm fine - but I don't feel fine."

If you want to go deeper:

📖 You've Bounced Back - But Your Body Hasn't Why recovery can leave you feeling fragile, even when treatment is over.

📥 Join Flourish Notes Nervous system insights and reflections for women navigating midlife change.

Sarah Gilbertson, therapeutic coach specialising in recovery and nervous system support for women — Sarah Gilbertson - Therapeutic Coach, FlourishWell Coaching

About Sarah

Sarah Gilbertson is a Therapeutic Coach and founder of FlourishWell Coaching. She works with women navigating midlife change, recovery, and confidence - especially in the space between "you're fine now" and feeling ready again.

With a background in movement teaching and ski instructing, Sarah brings a grounded, body-first approach to emotional health and nervous system literacy.

Learn more about working with Sarah →

Get Your Free Nervous System Tools & Resources