Even the most experienced sports person experiences an injury from time to time—whether it is a minor injury such as a pulled muscle or something a little more severe such as a broken bone. While this can be incredibly frustrating and demotivating, it is important that you don’t let it turn you away from exercise altogether. However, this doesn’t mean that you should only take a few days off before jumping straight straight back into a high-intensity program. Instead, getting back your fitness after an injury needs a careful and calculated plan. This strategic return back to fitness helps keep you safe and allows you to achieve your goals in no time at all.
Let’s look at how you can do this without putting your body under undue stress, slowing down your recover or worse still injuring yourself further.
Getting Back Your Fitness After An Injury Step #1 Self Diagnoses
If you’re in pain or feel discomfort when you’re exercising, then find the source of the problem. Don’t continue to push yourself. Instead, stop working out and try to self-diagnose your injury.
HOT TIP – Listen to your body when it talks to you.
Getting Back Your Fitness After An Injury Step #2 Seek Medical Attention
If you cannot work out why you’re hurting, then stop working out and seek out immediate medical attention. Don’t try to downplay your injury—as this will not allow your body to heal properly and it could lead to serious health problems further down the line. Seeking medical attention is even more important if you have chest or head pain, laboured breathing or have banged or knocked your head, had a fall or have noticed unusual bruising or any other unexplainable marking on your body.
HOT TIP – Visit a medical practitioner to ensure that you’re on the right path to better health.
Getting Back Your Fitness After An Injury Step # 3 Rest
To let your body heal from injury, you need to give it a break. And while this can be frustrating, especially if you need to take a prolonged break from your workout routine, it’s crucial that you don’t rush the process of getting back into exercising. Also, consult a professional—your doctor, personal trainer or physiotherapist—to figure out exactly how much time off you need. Follow their advice and remember, a lack of pain is not always a sign that an injury is fully healed.
HOT TIP – Rest and sleep are great healers as your body works during these times to repair damage.
Getting Back Your Fitness After An Injury Step # 4 Take Care Of Your Body
Another way you can help yourself bounce back from an injury is by taking extra steps to care for your body. This could include the ‘basics,’ such as drinking more water and following a healthy diet, but it could also include working with licensed professionals to deal with any long-term issues. For example, if you received an injury to your foot, heel, or ankle, you might want to work with a podiatrist. If you aren’t sure of where to start, try searching ‘podiatrist in my area’ to find a local and reputable company to work alongside.
HOT TIP – Drinking more water and eating well helps your body to heal quicker.
Getting Back Your Fitness After An Injury Step # 5 Boost Your Confidence
Sometimes, an injury can have a highly negative impact on your confidence—which can make returning to exercise incredibly difficult. Therefore, you should work on ways to get your mojo back ahead of time—so that you can get on with your training without the fear of an injury recurrence.
HOT TIP – Going back to basics helps you correct poor posture and increase your stamina and endurance.
Getting Back Your Fitness After An Injury Step # 6 Reintroduce Exercise Slowly
The old adage says, “only fools rush in.” So, take your time and gently easy back into exercise. Plan how you’ll rebuild your strength to get your fitness back to where you were before you sustained an injury. For instance, rather than jumping back in the gym with heavy weights, try something like pull up resistance bands instead.
Don’t think you can just start where you left off. Your body would have lost condition while you’ve been resting, even if it’s only for a few days. Instead, start with small, low-intensity workouts and build up the intensity over time. For example, make walking a workout to gradually improve your fitness levels.
HOT TIP – Rather than trying to speed up the recovery process, take your time and be kind to yourself.
Getting Back Your Fitness After An Injury Key Takeaways
Taking your time to rebuild your body after an injury isn’t easy. It takes patience, determination and perseverance. But, you’ll be thankful that you took these steps, and it’s likely that you’ll also build a bigger and better version of yourself.
To recap:
- Try self diagnoses to find the source of the problem.
- Seek medical attention if the problem persists.
- Rest and give your body time to heal.
- Take care of your body.
- Boost your confidence by working on your technique.
- Reintroduce exercise slowly, rather than rushing.
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