How to Maintain Your Workouts With an Injury
Published on September 12, 2022Whenever you are exercising, it’s very important to make sure that you are keeping yourself as safe as possible. This is much easier said than done, but as long as you are sensible and approach it in the right way, you should find that you can essentially keep yourself safe. In this blog post, we will discuss some of the things you can do to keep yourself from being injured when you work out.
Daily exercise is an important part of all-around health. When you injure yourself, getting in that daily workout can get a lot more difficult. You can significantly cut your risk of getting hurt by following these precautions.
Start Slow
No matter how fit you are or how many times you’ve done that exercise before, it's best to start slow when exercising with an injury. First, take even more time than you usually would to stretch and warm up. You want to ensure the sprained joint or strained muscle has plenty of time to loosen and lengthen without pushing it too far or too hard. Then, begin with a lower-impact activity to test out how the injured area feels. If even the lower-impact activities are causing the area pain, then you need to back off and find a different activity that doesn’t utilise the injured body part. If the area isn’t giving you trouble, you can begin to increase your intensity a little at a time without pushing yourself to your usual limits.
Braces and Supports
Most minor injuries can be helped through the use of braces, supports, or compression devices. All of these devices perform, more or less, the same function: supporting an injured muscle or joint and removing some of the strain placed on it through daily activity. Utilising a compression sleeve to support your injured elbow can allow you to play basketball at a very similar level to what you did before. Slim ankle braces can support a strained Achilles tendon so that you can still attend that Zumba class you love, and participate with a few modifications to reduce the level of impact.
Cool Down
An active cool down helps to increase the blood flow to the injured muscle. Performing an active cool down can help maintain range of motion and joint mobility. This helps to reduce the stiffness and tightness that can happen after exercise.The heart and lungs are more active during exercise. This is in order to supply the muscles with oxygen. An active cool down has been shown to provide a faster recovery of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. It does this by helping to normalise heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate after exercise.
Proper Form
Practising good form can prevent so many injuries. Bouncing into squats, yanking on your neck to do sit-ups or using momentum might help you to do a few more reps or lift more weight, but your risk of injury is greatly increased. Bad form can cause both acute and chronic injury. And while your body may well survive a bit of bad form for a while, at some point, it will result in injury.
Listen to Your Body
Get rid of the "no pain, no gain" mantality. To build strength and stamina, you will need to push your body. The key is to push slowly and gradually. You can expect sore muscles after your workout. But you should never feel pain when exercising. If you feel pain, stop right away.
Stay Disciplined and Don’t Give Up
The key to maintaining a successful workout routine is to stay disciplined even when you’re injured. Don’t let an injury make you quit! If you can get through the first two weeks of your injury, chances are it won’t last that long. And even if it does sideline you for a few months, there’s no excuse not to come back stronger than ever once you’ve fully recovered. Also, be positive. It will help you stay motivated. Tell yourself that the injury is only temporary, and you’re going to be able to come back stronger than before!
Injuries are an unfortunate part of life, but they don’t have to sideline you from working out. By consulting a physical therapist or doctor, finding activities that aren’t aggravating your injury, creating a workout routine that focuses on the problem areas, finding creative ways to work around your injury, maintaining a healthy diet, and staying disciplined. You’ll be able to maintain your workout routine, even with an injury.
Maintaining good physical health can improve pain and fatigue linked with many chronic illnesses. At KellyKinetix, mobility is the foundation for injury prevention. We take an active approach to working with all clients regardless of their previous level of activity.
First, our highly experienced trainers will complete an assessment. We can then develop a customised exercise program tailored to your goals. Optimise your daily function or your performance. Manage the effects of injury and prevent the potential of further injuries.
To read more about working in, visit our fitness page here https://www.kellykinetix.com/fitness
To read about what KellyKinetix offers in the way of working in, check out information about our Mobility and Body Resilience Classes here https://www.kellykinetix.com/classes Physical activity is vital in improving and maintaining flexibility, strength and balance.
Credits:
https://wellnessed.com/the-importance-of-proper-form/
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000859.htm
https://propelphysiotherapy.com/injury-prevention/does-a-cool-down-prevent-injury/
https://mxp4u.com/blog/tips-to-keep-working-out-after-injury/
https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/workout-injuries-prevention-and-treatment
https://hopezvara.com/keeping-injury-at-bay-during-your-workouts
https://www.verywellfit.com/how-to-maintain-fitness-while-injured-3120777
