Dealing with an Injury from Sports

Mind is All

If you do any type of sport, at some juncture you will sustain an injury from it. There can be a big difference in the time it takes to recovery depending on what you do. Most injuries require rest and rehabilitiation, baring broken bones or torn ligaments / tendons. Putting an ice pack on your injury is the first thing you should do. This is to help slow down swelling that takes place. If necessary, get to a hospital at this time to get checked out. I personally don’t recommend taking any painkillers at this time so an accurate assessment can be taken.

Once you determine that your injury is painful but minor, you can continue to regularly ice it. A good way to go is 20 minute of ice followed with 20 minutes off. It is handy to have multiple icepacks at your disposal at this time. I personally like the gel cold packs that can also be used as hot packs. After your first 24 hours this will come in handy. You can start looking into over the counter medication to help with the discomfort.

After the first 24 hours of an injury, you can begin to incorporate a hot pack into your routine. Using a hot pack will help to promote blood flow to your injury which help you to heal faster. Again you want to shoot for 20 minutes on hot 20 minutes off hot. 20 minutes on hot, 20 minutes off hot. Simply begin again from there. During this time stay off your feet and don’t stress the area. After a few days you will want to stretch things out by doing some simple stretching.

Massage therapy can also assist with sports injuries as well. A combo of soft and deep tissue massage can help muscles to heal faster and helps to reduce scar tissue. You can then start some basic therapy to slowly get back into shape. While you are laid up, you can use resistance bands as a great way to get into shape.

You need to slowly work yourself back into exercising and make sure not to rush your recovery or it will take longer. You should take it slowly and as your pain subsides, beging to increase your activity again.