How To Ease Pain Following A Fitness Injury

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Suffering from a fitness-related injury is never a fun thing to experience. You’ve got injured trying to better yourself and stay fit, so what do you do now? There are three tips below that can guide you through the recovery process and ensure that you ease as much pain as possible following your injury:

Give yourself time to heal

The amazing thing about the human body is that it has its own system for recovering after an injury. Muscle sprains, tears, and even bone breaks will all heal by themselves. The time it takes for your body to heal will vary depending on your injury, as well as other factors. One of those factors is how you act after an injury. If you constantly try to be active, your body doesn’t have a chance to rest and recover. Instead, you need to give yourself time to heal. Recognize that this might mean you don’t go to the gym for a week or two – maybe even more. It can be frustrating but think about your long-term progress. Taking time off now to rest and let your body recover will mean you don’t prolong the injury or increase the chances of regular flare-ups. 

Once you start to get back into your usual routine, using body support equipment can help you avoid aggravating your injury. Using go sleeves on your elbows, knees, or calves can offer additional support during and after recovery.

Try some painkillers

If your injury is really bad, it can be hard to do normal daily activities. As such, finding a way to temporarily relieve the pain will be useful. Painkillers can help with this, though you need to be careful when taking them. They can be addictive, so should only be taken in moderation. They also will not cure your injury as they only mask the pain. It’s also important to research the medication you use, even if it has been given to you by a doctor. You don’t want to end up hiring a medical malpractice attorney because your doctor prescribed you the wrong type of medication and it caused more harm to your body. If possible, try natural painkillers as they aren’t going to involve chemicals or drugs. 

See a specialist

Those of you that choose to see a doctor when you’re injured will usually get referred to a specialist anyway. You can bypass the doctor by going to see one straight away if you know why you’re injured and what caused it. In most fitness injury cases, your best bet is seeing a physical therapist. They are qualified to diagnose musculoskeletal injuries, which yours will most likely be. From here, they can put you on a treatment plan to help speed up your recovery. It will usually include a rehabilitation routine that helps the injury heal while preventing it from happening again. They should also give more details on how long you should be inactive after the injury, and how long they expect it to take for a full recovery. 

In summary, the best thing for a fitness injury is to give it time to heal. Allow yourself the time to rest up and recover. Take painkillers if you need them, and be sure to see a specialist so you can find exercises or stretching techniques that help your injury heal and calm your pain.