An injury can happen to everyone. Even though you try to prepare and prevent injuries, it can still happen.
It’s never easy to deal with an injury. Especially if you are an active person or you like to exercise, it can be frustrating because you have limited mobility and you are also forced to take a break from your exercise routine.
So how can you get back in shape after you’ve suffered from an injury? Make sure to follow the tips below as they can be helpful.
- Always consult with your doctor – Don’t ever try to exercise without first going to your doctor and asking him or her whether it is safe to do so. You need to understand that every injury is unique and you may not have the same recovery time as others. If you try to exercise right away, there is a risk that you might injure that same area, and it could even be worse than the original injury. Only get back into exercising once you get the go signal from your doctor.
- Start slow – You may be used to very heavy exercise but you cannot go into that right away when you are healing from an injury. You can start with something as simple as going for walks. It’s important to do low-intensity exercises first, such as cardio training on an indoor bike. It can be frustrating but you need to learn to pace yourself so as not to increase the risk of another injury and to let your body adjust from being inactive for a time.
- Don’t forget to stretch – It’s important to do stretches when you are going to exercise. Your muscles may feel stiff after being inactive and static for some period. If you do heavy exercises right away, you may experience cramping and that can be painful. Even while you are on bedrest or recovering, you may be able to do some gentle stretching so that your muscles are able to recover easily and exercising will not put too much strain on it.
- Be mentally prepared – You need to ready yourself if you are just going to start exercising after a period of time. It’s not only your body that will be strained. There will be times when you will be frustrated that you cannot do the exercises and activities that were so easy for you to do before. Also, you need to consider what the reason for your injury was. Maybe you need to change some things in your exercise regimen, especially if the reason for injury was that you pushed yourself too much. Taking time to reflect will help in preventing another injury in the future.
5. Make sure to keep yourself hydrated – Keeping yourself hydrated and eating a proper diet are big factors for your body to heal properly. If possible, do not drink alcohol, and also stay away from eating unhealthy meals such as junk food or processed food.
