The stages of being injured

This has been rehashed several times in the blogosphere, but here's my spin on it (based on many years of experience, unfortunately).

Stage 1:  The downplay
In this stage, you might say things like: "I'll take a day off, that should help whatever this pain is."  "I need to start stretching, something is too tight."  "I should hit the foam roller a few more times, just to keep this from developing into a real injury."  Which quickly progresses to something like "A solid week off will do it."  "I need to crosstrain more."  "Maybe I should see my massage therapist and have her work out this knot."   If you have a real injury, the next step is usually...

Stage 2:  Admitting you have an issue.  Maybe.
By now you've admitted to yourself that there is a good chance that something wrong and no amount of ice or rest or will power will fix.   Now you need professional help.  You might see your primary care physician who tells you to take advil and stop running, since it's bad for you anyway.  After that fails, you might head to a physical therapist or orthopedic specialist, who will get you to Stage 3.

Stage 3:  Something's wrong and now you're depressed.
Here you're faced with the reality that you are injured and there's a name for it. Oh yeah, it's real.  It's a thing.  And you have it.

Stress fracture.  Labrum tear.  IT band syndrome. Runner's knee.  Pinched nerve.

Life. Is. Not. Fair.

Stage 4:  Pissed
Stage 3 and Stage 4 sort of blend together at time.  Some days you are upset.  Some mad.  Some sad.  Some spent wondering why karma hates you.

Stage 5:  Acceptance
At some point, you realize that there's no amount of crying or whining or ranting that's going to change anything and so you just might as well deal with it.  You start Googling for forums and chat rooms full of people with the same issue.  How did they recover?  Are they back running again yet?  You engage with complete strangers, the only thing in common is that you both have a bum hip.  You start making recovery goals - determined to do what the therapist says, committing to going through surgery, whatever it is you think will get you back to 100%.

Stage 6:  Hope
The final stage of injury is the one that carries you through rehab.  The hope that this too shall pass.