How To Get Rid Of Injuries Fast
Learn the 7 best ways to treat exercise injuries
You can certainly learn a fair share about exercise injuries on the Get-Fit Guy website. For example, you will find injury articles that include:
-
How to Avoid Exercise Injuries
-
How to Exercise in the Water (perfect for when you’re injured)
-
How to Recover After a Workout (tips for making you less sore)
While your goal should be to avoid getting injured in the first place, I’ve never met an exercise enthusiast who didn’t get some kind of injury at some point in their life. So the real goal is to get rid of your injuries as quickly as possible. That’s why I’ve compiled this list my 7 best tips on resolving physical injuries:
How To Get Rid Of Injuries Fast
- 1. Ice: The body’s initial response to an injury is inflammation and swelling, which can increase pain and pressure on nerves, and decrease range-of-motion. That’s why your immediate plan of attack should be to get ice on an injured joint for 15-20 minutes, and then repeat this every few hours until the initial swelling and redness has subsided.
- 2. Rest: This doesn’t mean you should lie on the couch waiting for your injury to heal. Instead, simply rest the injured area only, but get the remainder of you as fit as possible. For example, I recently injured my right knee, but within 24 hours of the injury, I was back at the gym doing leg presses, squats, leg extensions, leg curls, calf raises, and jumps – with my left leg only!
- 3. Topical Anti-Inflammatories: Topical anti-inflammatories can help to improve blood circulation around the injured area and also decrease inflammation and pain. They are also much easier on your stomach than an oral anti-inflammatory such as ibuprofen. I personally use two different types of topical anti-inflammatories: topical magnesium and topical pain management (Traumeel, RockSauce, and Dragon Ice are all good brands). Usually, I will apply topical magnesium before and after workouts, and topical pain management in the mornings and evenings.
- 4. Heat: Once you’ve decreased the initial inflammation and pain, and you’re ready to begin exercising again, heat can help to make the soft tissues around the injured joint more pliable, and decrease the chance that you’ll experience stiffness. For example, if you’re recovering from a back injury, you can use a heating pad on your lower back prior to a run. Or if you’re recovering from a knee injury, you can use a knee sleeve to keep heat (and compression) on your knee joint.
- 5. Oral Anti-Inflammatories: As I mentioned earlier, many pharmaceutical anti-inflammatories are tough on your stomach, and I rarely recommend them. But there are natural herbal remedies that can significantly assist with healing and inflammation, including proteolytic enzymes (you’ll find these in pineapple, papaya, meats, and nutritional supplements) and anti-inflammatory herbs, such as turmeric, garlic, and ginger. Speaking of enzymes and herbs, you’d also be wise to decrease your total calorie intake if your injury has caused lower levels of activity.
- 6. Therapy: For some injuries, you may need to see a physical therapist or sports medicine physician. The specialist can use ultrasound, fancy machines that combine ice and compression, electrical stimulation, and deep tissue massage to speed up healing. You may also find that some alternative remedies help as well. These include acupuncture, prolotherapy, or advanced muscle integration techniques. I’ve found success with such remedies, but only for certain injuries.
- 7. Manage Stress: Getting injured can stress you out, especially if you’re very serious about your fitness or the way your body looks. Remember that everything will heal if you give it time and use the tips in this article – but during the course of your injury, you should also use stress relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, yoga, and, of course, exercise to aid in your physical and mental recovery.
Finally, you should always listen to your physician. If you just got out of surgery and you’re in a full body cast, don’t rush to the treadmill quite yet. If you’ve had a serious injury, make sure you get clearance from your doctor before you resume normal activities. On the other hand, there’s no reason that something as simple as ankle sprain or tweaked shoulder needs to have you sidelined for weeks, as long as you manage it properly using the tips in this article.
If you have more questions about how to get rid of injuries fast, or know any other injury healing tips, please share them below in Comments or on the Get-Fit Guy Facebook page!
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
About the Author
Ben Greenfield received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Idaho in sports science and exercise physiology; personal training and strength and conditioning certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA); a sports nutrition certification from the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), an advanced bicycle fitting certification from Serotta. He has over 11 years’ experience in coaching professional, collegiate, and recreational athletes from all sports, and as helped hundreds of clients achieve weight loss and fitness success.
