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Returning to Exercise After Injury
Whether you are a competitive athlete or someone who exercises regularly to stay in shape, you will almost surely have to deal with an injury that interrupts your daily routine. And too often the tendency is stop exercising once an injury occurs.
Injury refers to the loss of function of a body part with or without some visual disruption of the part's structure. The injury may be very obvious. For example, if you rupture your biceps tendon, you will often see an obvious lump in your arm. You will lose power but may have no pain. Or you have pain that decreases function but you can't localize it to one spot. With biceps tendonitis, moving the muscle results in pain around the shoulder and upper arm. Yet looking at the arm and shoulder, everything appears normal.
Whatever the injury, there are three basic phases to getting yourself back to where you were prior to the injury: the immediate post-injury phase, the recovery period, and the functional phase. You may move through these phases quickly for minor problems or it may take months for severe injury.
I will discuss the three phases in relation to minor injuries, such as muscle strains, ligament sprains, and tendonitis. The same three phases also apply to major injuries that require emergent action or surgery.
The Immediate Post-Injury Phase
Doctors refer to this as the acute phase. During the first 24 hours to 48 hours following a minor injury, think R-I-C-E – rest, ice, compression, and elevation.
Even during the acute phase, you can and should continue to remain physically active. If the injury is to any part of the leg, aerobics may not be possible during the early post-injury phase unless you have access to an arm cycle. However, you can still do upper body and arm strength training. In addition, you will want to start very gentle stretching of the muscles in the affected limb and you can perform regular stretching of the rest of your body. Stop stretching if it causes pain. To maintain muscle tone around the injury, do sets of repetitive isometric contractions (no active joint movement).
Whether you are a competitive athlete or someone who exercises regularly to stay in shape, you will almost surely have to deal with an injury that interrupts your daily routine. And too often the tendency is stop exercising once an injury occurs.
Injury refers to the loss of function of a body part with or without some visual disruption of the part's structure. The injury may be very obvious. For example, if you rupture your biceps tendon, you will often see an obvious lump in your arm. You will lose power but may have no pain. Or you have pain that decreases function but you can't localize it to one spot. With biceps tendonitis, moving the muscle results in pain around the shoulder and upper arm. Yet looking at the arm and shoulder, everything appears normal.
Whatever the injury, there are three basic phases to getting yourself back to where you were prior to the injury: the immediate post-injury phase, the recovery period, and the functional phase. You may move through these phases quickly for minor problems or it may take months for severe injury.
I will discuss the three phases in relation to minor injuries, such as muscle strains, ligament sprains, and tendonitis. The same three phases also apply to major injuries that require emergent action or surgery.
The Immediate Post-Injury Phase
Doctors refer to this as the acute phase. During the first 24 hours to 48 hours following a minor injury, think R-I-C-E – rest, ice, compression, and elevation.
- Rest refers to minimizing movement of the injured body part to prevent further harm to the tissues.
- Ice should be applied as soon as possible following the injury or onset of inflammation. Ice the area for 15 to no more than 20 minutes. Experts differ on how frequently to apply ice. You should wait 30 minutes before applying ice again, and there may not be any advantage to repeating ice treatment more frequently than every two hours. Ice helps to decrease pain and swelling.
- Compression with an elastic bandage will help reduce swelling if wrapped immediately over the injured area. Do not wrap it so tightly that the area beyond the bandage throbs. Redo the wrap as it loosens.
- Elevation of the body part should be above the level of the heart, allowing gravity to drain fluid from the injury. Elevation is best started immediately, but it is still effective even after significant swelling has occurred.
Even during the acute phase, you can and should continue to remain physically active. If the injury is to any part of the leg, aerobics may not be possible during the early post-injury phase unless you have access to an arm cycle. However, you can still do upper body and arm strength training. In addition, you will want to start very gentle stretching of the muscles in the affected limb and you can perform regular stretching of the rest of your body. Stop stretching if it causes pain. To maintain muscle tone around the injury, do sets of repetitive isometric contractions (no active joint movement).
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