How to Recover Quicker When You Injure Yourself During Training
Getting an injury while working out is frustrating. You’re worried that if you can’t train, you will lose all of the gains you’ve made. You want to get back to your training as soon as possible. If you start to train again too soon after an injury, you could set yourself back even further or cause a worse injury. There are ways to recover quickly to help you get back to your training.
Ice and Heat
Ice should be used immediately after an injury, not heat, especially if there is swelling. Ice will help reduce the pain and the swelling. Use a cold pack on the injured area for 10 to 20 minutes at a time, four times a day.
You can use heat after 72 hours, but it depends on where the injury is. For joint or bone injuries, ice is better to continue to use. Heat works best with soft tissue injuries and for the back. Apply heat to the injured area for 15 to 20 minutes per day. Heat will increase the blood flow in the area of the injury and help the healing process. Unlike ice, do not apply heat directly to the skin. A hot bath will work just as well.
Accidents and Injuries
If you slip and fall and get injured, you might also have to discontinue training for a time. The first thing you should do is make sure you haven’t broken a bone. If you’re not sure, a quick trip to your doctor’s office will let you know. If the injury isn’t too bad, you can treat it as a workout-related injury.
Resting the injured area will help, as will ice to reduce any swelling. If you’ve hurt your wrist, wrapping the wrist with an elastic medical bandage compression will help keep the injury immobile.
Active Recovery
Injuries to an arm, like the bicep, forearm or shoulder, should be treated like other injuries. But you can still exercise while you heal if the injury is not too bad. Instead of using barbells, you can use dumbbells.
For example, if you’ve injured your left arm, you can still do curls. Just use a lighter weight with your left arm, even if it is only a five-pound dumbbell. Even though it is a lighter weight, you shouldn't lose too much muscle in the injured arm.
Passive Recovery
How you recover from an injury will depend on the severity of the injury and where it occurs. When you get injured, your immune system will try to heal it. Sometimes it is best to let your body rest and allow it to heal on its own.
Don’t exert the injured area and get good sleep. Sleep is very important to allow your body to heal. Passive recovery doesn't mean sitting around and doing nothing. Movement is also important because it creates healthy blood flow to the area, which helps the healing process. Do some stretching to increase blood flow.
