Do’s and Don’ts of Exercising With Injuries
When you get an injury, it can be hard to break up your normal fitness routine. There are some things you should do when you’re ready to exercise again, and others you need to avoid. Here are some important do’s and don’ts to keep in mind.
Don’t Make the Injury Worse
This is unfortunately a common mistake people make when they want to keep exercising after getting an injury. It is crucial that you exercise slowly and are gentle with your body following an injury. If you make the injury worse or create other injuries in the process, it is only going to take you longer before you can get back to your normal fitness routine. Follow your doctor’s orders and don’t go back to your normal amount of weight or intensity right off the bat.
Do Rest After Getting an Injury
Every injury needs time to heal, so don’t assume that just by working hard, you can ‘work through the pain’. This is another quick way to make the healing take longer instead of helping speed it up. After an injury, rest the extremity, ice it, and go back to exercising slowly.
Don’t Stop Exercising Altogether
While you want to rest and give your injury proper time to heal, you should also avoid skipping exercise altogether. The longer you go without using your muscles, the harder it is going to be to get back on track. The best thing to do is go through the initial stage of rest and icing the extremity, then start working out different parts of your body. So if you have a wrist injury, skip the weight training and instead go for walks or hiking to keep yourself fit. If you hurt your knee, stay off the treadmill and instead focus on your seated weight training.
Do Stretch and Warm Up
One thing you can do with the injured part of your body is to stretch it slowly and gently. This is going to help it heal better and start working on better range of motion. When you sprain something, there isn’t much doctors can do, but one thing you can do to help it heal faster is slowly start stretching the area. Warming up a little longer before your workouts when you do pick them up again is another great way to exercise with injuries and not make them worse.
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