Can You Exercise When Recovering From An Injury?

It’s no secret that recovering from an injury can be difficult. Not only do you have to deal with the physical pain and healing process, but you may also find yourself feeling bored or restless as you wait for your body to heal. It’s during this time that many people consider exercising. However, is it always a good idea to work out while recovering from an injury? Often light exercise can improve blood flow and expedite healing. However, too much or the wrong exercise can be detrimental. Here are a few considerations that you should keep in mind when it comes to exercising during recovery.

1. Ask Your Doctor

First and foremost, you should first speak with your doctor or another healthcare provider. This is important before beginning any exercise while recovering from an injury. They will be able to provide valuable insight and advice on how to go about exercising safely during recovery. If you were involved in an accident and don’t have any visible injuries are you ok to skip the Doctor? Thomas explains. “Sometimes injuries aren’t always evident immediately after an accident.” That’s why it’s important to follow up with your doctor to ensure that you have completely recovered. If your doctor says you can do some exercises, make sure to ask them about what types of exercises would be best and how often you should do them.

2. Type Of Injury

It’s also important to take into consideration the type of injury you have. This is important when deciding whether or not it would be safe to exercise while recovering from the injury. For example, if you have a muscle or tendon injury, light exercises such as yoga could help speed up the healing process. This could allow you to return to your normal activities more quickly. However, if you have a broken bone, it’s important to avoid any type of exercise that could put stress on the injury. Additionally, you could work with a personal trainer to develop the right fitness plan for you.

In addition to the type of injury, where the injury is located on your body is also important. For example, with an ankle injury, you might be able to do some exercises that don’t put any stress on that leg. Many upper body exercises wouldn’t be affected by a leg injury. When it comes to head injuries, however, it’s important to avoid any type of exercise that could increase blood pressure or heart rate. Again your doctor should be able to advise you on this.

3. Take It Slow

It’s always a good idea to take things slow when exercising during recovery. Even if your doctor gives you the green light for working out. Even if you feel like your injury is healed enough that you could do more strenuous activities. It’s important to start off with just a few minutes of light exercise and gradually work up from there. If you try to do too much too soon, you could end up re-injuring yourself or further delaying your recovery.

Try to keep in mind that you’ve probably spent more time than usual being sedentary during your recovery. This means that your muscles and joints may not be as strong as they were before the injury. As such, it’s important to ease back into things and give your body time to adjust. You might also not be as flexible as you once were. Be sure to take this into consideration as well and begin stretching more.

4. Listen To Your Body

The pain levels you experience during and after exercise can be a good barometer for whether or not you should continue exercising. While it might feel good to push yourself to do more, if you find that your body is telling you otherwise, it’s important to listen.

If the pain does subside once you’ve finished exercising, chances are it was simply a sign that you were overdoing it. You should back off a bit next time. However, if the pain persists or gets worse, what does that mean? It could be a sign that you’re re-injuring yourself and you should stop immediately. If this is the case, it’s important to speak with your doctor again to ensure that they have cleared you to exercise. Find out what you should do to prevent re-injuring yourself while exercising.

Ideally, you don’t want to let it get to a point where you’re actually experiencing pain. With a lot of injuries, usually, you’ll get a tense feeling while doing an exercise before the pain kicks in. In this case, stopping and relaxing the area could help relieve the tension and prevent any further injury.

5. Stay Hydrated And Well-Fed

While it might feel like you need to eat less to shed any weight gain, doing so could actually be detrimental when recovering from an injury. Because your body is healing itself, it needs plenty of proper nutrition as well as appropriate hydration.In addition to keeping a healthy diet, make sure that you’re drinking enough water. This is important before, during, and after each workout session. If you find that the pain or soreness in your injury is worse after exercising than it was before, it could be a sign that you’re not sufficiently hydrating yourself. Likewise, if it feels like you need to eat more as a result of exercise, this too could be a sign that your body isn’t getting enough nutrients during recovery.

Even when you’re feeling good and seem to be progressing well with your recovery, it’s important not to overdo things by exercising too frequently. Just as your body needs time to heal, it also needs time to recover from exercise. As such, be sure to take at least some days off periodically to give your body the rest it needs. A personal trainer can help guide you and create a fitness program just for you.

6. Include Stretching In Your Workouts

If you’re cleared to exercise during your recovery, there’s a good chance that your doctor has made some recommendations for you. One recommendation is likely to include some form of stretching in your workout routine. This is because stretching can help improve flexibility and range of motion. Both of these could be inhibited as a result of your injury.

While it might not seem like an important part of working out, stretching can actually help reduce the risk of re-injury. Additionally, it can help improve your recovery. Be sure to include some static stretches into your routine. These are stretches that are held for a period of time, usually 30 seconds or more. They can help improve flexibility even further. It can take some time for muscles to stretch fully. When doing stretches before or after a workout, be sure to do them slowly. Also, ensure they are within the properly controlled movements rather than with a jerking or bouncing motion.