CopingFeelingsGrowthinjury recoveryMindset
What the New Spider-Man Movie Taught Me About Healing From Injury
(Spider-Man spoilers ahead! Nothing major, but if you haven’t watched it yet and want to go in completely spoiler-free, bookmark this article and come back afterward.)
I wasn’t expecting to leave the Spider-Man: Brand New Day movie thinking about sports injury recovery. Besides it being a great movie that had me laughing, tearing up, and at the edge of my seat, it actually really got me thinking.
Spoiler alert*** (you’ve been warned) Spider-Man creates an inhibitor to suppress the overwhelming new powers emerging within him. To him, they’re unpredictable and something that needs to be controlled. But there’s a pivotal moment when MJ challenges that perspective. She doesn’t see a monster that needs controlling. She sees someone who is changing.
That one moment made me think about the injured teen girl athletes I work with every day.
Because injuries change us.
And when change feels uncomfortable, uncertain, or scary, our first instinct is often to create our own “inhibitors.”
Perhaps not like Spider-Man’s device, but through our beliefs, habits, and coping strategies that keep us from fully engaging with the healing process.
What are your inhibitors?
Our inhibitors often begin with good intentions, to be happier and avoid suffering. They’re our mind’s attempt to protect us from fear, disappointment, uncertainty, or loss.
But over time, they can begin to limit our healing.
One of the most common is the performance inhibitor.
“I’ll just keep playing.”
“My team needs me.”
“It’s probably nothing.”
“I can push through.”
As athletes, we’re often praised for our grit and determination. It’s celebrated. But what about when pushing through stops being courageous and starts getting in the way of recovery. When the inhibitor puts us at risk of not being to play again, breaking down the body, or enduring constant pain.
Where does that take us?
The hurry-up and there's nothing I can do about it inhibitors
“I should be better by now”
“Why am I not back yet?”
Comparing our recovery to teammates, timelines we found online, or the expectations we’ve placed on ourselves. We treat healing like a race we need to win. Bodies don’t always respond well to being rushed. One of the hardest asks of a driven athlete is to be consistent, patient, and trusting in the process far more often than urgency.
Another inhibitor that can sound surprisingly convincing because it disguises itself as acceptance is the there’s nothing I can do inhibitor.
“I guess there’s nothing I can do.”
“I’ll just wait and see.”
“I’ll do whatever everyone else tells me.”
Of course, physiotherapists, physicians, athletic therapists, psychologists, and coaches all play an important role. Yet, we have far more influence than we realize. We choose whether we complete our rehabilitation exercises, listen to our bodies, prioritize sleep, ask questions, manage stress, or practice self-compassion. Recognizing ownership without blaming ourselves is a choice.
The emotional inhibitor
Perhaps the most powerful inhibitor of all is the emotional inhibitor.
“I’m fine.”
“It’s just a sport.”
“I’m over it.”
Instead of making space for disappointment, grief, frustration, or fear (see Your feelings are not who you are: The mental side of injury recovery) we distract ourselves. We scroll. We stay busy. We focus only on getting back. We pull away from certain people. And sometimes the most important healing begins not when we suppress those emotions, but when we become willing to sit beside them.
That’s what struck me most about Spider-Man’s inhibitor.
He believed something inside him needed to be controlled because it felt unfamiliar. But MJ saw something different. She saw someone adapting to change.
If you're going through a change right now...
If you’re undergoing a change, sports recovery related or not, you might consider one (or some) of these questions:
- If you viewed your injury through the lens of, this is me adapting to change, how would you see the situation differently?
- What have I been trying so hard not to feel these days?
- What is one small way I could be kinder to myself today?
- If healing isn’t a race, what does my body need from me right now?
- What part of this change have I been trying to control instead of understand?
- What do I need most today that I haven’t been giving myself?
- Where do I still have choice, even in the middle of this change?
- What is this time in my life asking me to learn about myself?
- How can I support the person I’m becoming instead of wishing I were who I was before?
An injury doesn't have to feel like a gift.
One thing that injured teen girl athletes have taught me is that every major life transition asks big things of us. We can spend our energy trying to control, suppress, and resist the change or we can become curious and grow from it.
That doesn’t mean enjoying the injury or pretending it’s a gift.
But maybe, just maybe the experience invites us to notice, learn, or reconnect with a part of us. For Spider-Man, it was a deeper understanding that he can be both Peter Parker and Spider-Man and maybe have a life beyond just being one or the other.
For you maybe it’s connecting to your body.
Your values.
The people who support you.
Hope.
Self-compassion.
Maybe it’s connecting to being here today.
Healing rarely happens all at once. Trusting one step at a time is getting you to somewhere important.
Because perhaps the greatest lesson Spider-Man had to learn wasn’t how to control his changing power.
It was how to trust himself enough to grow into them.
And maybe that’s your invitation, too.
Let’s Keep Walking Together
If this message resonated with you, you’re already part of the community.
I appreciate you!
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Let’s walk this path together with presence, courage, and a little more ease.
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With gratitude,
Chantal
