You’re lifting weight, building muscle, and crushing your goals when one day it all comes to a halt because of an injury. It could be from a car accident, or maybe from a sports injury. Whatever the reason, you find yourself setback and unable to progress. Worse, you’re losing the results you worked so hard to gain.
If this sounds like you, you have to be careful! There’s a lot of emotions you’re experiencing and if you rush the healing process you’ll injure yourself and be even worse off than before. Here’s a couple ways to speed up recovery after an injury and get you back in the gym in no time.
Stretches & Easy Exercises
Doing light exercise can help an injury recover faster, if done correctly. You want to make sure you don’t overdo it, but you want to softly encourage the muscle to build up overtime with easy exercises. Remember, your muscles may have atrophy after not being used for some time. By easing into basic workouts you’ll help it recover faster.
Stretching is big. You should be doing this already, even if you haven’t injured yourself! Stretch before a workout and stretch when cooling down. Stretching helps tendons, muscles, and ligaments loosen before being strained. If you’ve suffered a bad injury you can ease back into the gym with stretches every morning and evening. When you start actually lifting weights again, be sure to stretch before and after workouts too.
If you don’t know of any stretches or exercises, ask your doctor or look online. Your doctor can give specific exercises depending on where your injury is, and he or she may recommend a brace to support the joint.
Start Back Lightly
Once you’ve been cleared by a doctor or if you feel up to it, you can attempt a workout. The key here when trying to recover is to go easy on yourself. Take it easy and do less weight than you normally would. After all, the muscle or joint in recovery won’t be able to do as much anyways for a good bit of time.
If you start to feel any unusual pain, stop! You’ve probably over done it and you’re making the injury worse than it needs to be. Hurting yourself only means having a longer recovery. It’s ok if you need to take it easy or even skip over certain exercises while healing. Your body will thank you and you’ll be back to where you were before the accident in no time!
See A Medical Professional
Doctors are smart and they know what they’re doing. If they think you’re too hurt, listen to them! Seeking out their expertise and treatment will help you recover quickly too.
Many doctors provide a number of services. Chiropractors are really important and every athlete or gymnast needs one that they can trust. Accident injury doctors will align your spine, fix cricks in your neck, and help muscles work properly again. Be sure to seek out medical treatment if you’ve been in a wreck or have hurt yourself.
Supplements, Foods, and Medication
Other ways to get back in the gym sooner include making certain lifestyle decisions. You should already be eating healthy, but continuing this habit will help your body recover. Vegetables, fruits, and drinking plenty of water provide nutrition for your and in turn allow it to heal itself.
Taking supplements are important too. Protein is a popular one and it’s used in helping muscles repair themselves. The same is true of an injury so be sure to load up on supplements and medication that can help you get back to working out faster.
It’s important, when making lifestyle decisions, to eat the right things and avoid the wrongs things. Sugary, caffeinated, and otherwise unhealthy beverages can lead to more problems in your fitness journey. Some foods can cause inflammation and swelling that could hinder recovery. If you like to drink often, alcoholic drinks are known to cause inflammation. Alcohol and injuries can also lead to more problems down the road and force you to seek out peripheral neuropathy treatment.
Get Better, Faster
Taking it slow and steady will be your best bet after an injury. If you follow these guidelines and take it easy, you’ll be back in the gym in no time. The key is to listen to your body and get a second opinion. Don’t assume you’re invincible! Your body is a machine that needs to be taken care of, so treat it well.
Author Bio:
Isaiah Ram is a writer, musician, and marketer from Atlanta, Georgia. He desires to unleash the potential in people and in businesses. Currently, Isaiah is working with Beyond the Nut to provide sustainable, organic cashews and help develop communities and businesses in West Africa.
