Told to Rest? 5 Questions to Ask First
By Dr. Peter Maring, D.C. · The Training Room, Blaine, MN
You were told to rest. A week later, it still hurts. And your season is moving on without you.
Rest isn't wrong. Rest without a reason is. That’s the difference between passive and active recovery. Rest should be intentional: it should have a job, an end point, and a way to measure whether or not it worked. Here are five questions you can ask before your athlete sits out.
What rest without a reason looks like
A common scenario: an athlete has a sore shoulder. Imaging comes back clear, with no fracture and a soft tissue injury. Good news.
Then the plan is “sit out a week and we’ll see.”
That plan doesn’t involve a strength test, a range-of-motion check, or a clear return-to-play benchmark. The only question a week later is whether or not it still hurts. And for an athlete, a week is a real piece of the season.
Rest has its place. But rest should come with a reason and a finish line. Before sitting out, ask: "What are we measuring, and what has to be true for me to get back on the field?"
That’s how we approach every return-to-play decision at TTR.
The difference between active and passive recovery
Passive recovery means waiting. You rest, maybe ice, and decide based on whether or not it still hurts. Active recovery means the athlete keeps moving inside safe limits, load gets added back on purpose, and the return is decided by testing, not by the calendar.
Rest still has a role in active recovery. It just has a reason and an end.
Passive recovery | Active recovery | |
What the athlete does | Sits out and waits | Keeps training what's safe |
How long | A set number of days | As long as testing says |
How you decide they're ready | "Does it still hurt?" | Symptoms, strength tests, and comprehensive evaluation. |
What the athlete knows | "Check back in a week" | Why each step happens, and what's next |
Is rest ever the right call?
Yes. Some injuries need real rest.
Intentional rest is still rest. The difference is that you know what it's for and how you'll know it's done.
What should you ask before your athlete sits out?
Ask these five questions.
1. Why rest? What is it doing for the injury?
Rest should have a job. Usually that job is protecting something while it heals.
If nobody can tell you what the rest is protecting, ask again.
2. Why this long? What changes at day 7 vs. day 14?
There should be a reason for the number of days, and something to check along the way.
Tissue takes time to heal, and nobody can promise you a date. But "a week, then we'll see" with nothing measured at the end is just a calendar.
3. What can my athlete still do while resting?
Usually something. Resting one injury rarely means resting the whole athlete.
Ask what's still safe to train, so they don't lose everything else while one part heals. The goal is to keep athletes competing; to work with the season, not against it.
4. What should get stronger while we wait?
Pain is one signal. Strength is another, and it's easy to miss.
Pain changes how an athlete moves. Days of protecting one side can leave one side making less force than the other, even after the pain fades. At TTR, we measure force on each side with VALD force plates, so we can see that gap instead of guessing.
5. What tells us they're ready to go back?
"It doesn't hurt anymore" is one answer, but it shouldn't be the only one.
Ask what has to be true before they return: strength side to side, the movements their sport asks for, and how the injury feels under real load. If your athlete isn't ready to play, you should know exactly why, and what happens next.
What does this look like at TTR?
It starts with a free Discovery Visit. It's about 30 minutes. You tell me what you've tried, what hasn't worked, and what you want to get back to. Then I tell you how I'd approach it, and why.
If it's a fit, the next step is a full assessment and performance screens, and you leave with a comprehensive treatment plan tailored to you. You get the same assessment the pros get.
No referral needed.
The athletes who do best are the ones who stay involved. People who take ownership of their care get results. Asking these five questions is where that starts.
FAQ
Is active recovery the same as an active recovery day after a hard workout? They're related but not the same. An active recovery day is light movement after training. Active recovery from an injury means keeping the athlete moving inside safe limits while an injury heals, with load added back on purpose when the data tells us its time.
Do I need a referral to come to TTR? No. You can book a Discovery Visit or a New Patient directly.
Will my kid have to stop playing? Not always. The goal is to keep athletes competing. If your athlete isn't ready, you'll know exactly why, and a plan for what happens next.
How long is the Discovery Visit? About 30 minutes. It's free, and there's no commitment.
Does TTR take insurance? TTR is cash-pay. There's no approval to wait on, so you can book directly.
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About the author Dr. Peter Maring owns The Training Room in Blaine, MN. Before coming home to the North Metro, he spent five years in Washington, D.C. as a sports chiropractor, including two seasons in the NFL and two in the MLS. In addition to being a team chiropractor for professional teams, he has treated hundreds of professional athletes across a wide variety of sports.
This post is for education only and isn't medical advice. Talk with your own provider about your health.
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