If you’ve fallen prey to a sports injury, you’re not alone. A lot of people can get injured while playing sports or working out even. It can be difficult to get back into your active lifestyle after you’ve been injured, but you shouldn’t give up hope. There can be a lot of emotional repercussions as well as physical. The first step is to heal properly and fully so that you don’t cause some sort of permanent damage to your body. Healing can take a long time but there are certain tips you can use to accelerate the process.
Before we get into the healing process, you should know that if you have been injured due to someone else’s negligence or through no fault of your own, you can file for damages. You should have no trouble locating a reliable Toledo personal injury lawyer, or one from whichever state you live in. Once you explain your situation to the lawyer, they can help you get the damages that you are owed.
Now, on to understanding how to heal faster after a sports injury.
Prevention is #1
The first thing to remember is that prevention is better than any cure you can be prescribed. Most injuries can be avoided if you just take some simple precautions before you get into your game. This can be as simple as warming up thoroughly and stretching your joints. If you warm up your muscles properly, you won’t sustain serious injuries during active time.
Use RICE
No, we’re not telling you to put actual rice on your injury. RICE is a mnemonic that stands for Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. This is essential if you want to treat soft tissue or other injuries. When you’re injured, you will likely see some swelling, redness and experience sharp pains. You should immediately add ice to the area to bring down the swelling sufficiently. The next step is to add a compression bandage around it to control both the swelling and the pain. Elevating the area is extremely important. You should keep your injury elevated for at least 72 hours after it has occurred, just to make sure the swelling goes down.
You see, RICE achieves its purpose by forcing your swelling to go all the way down and helps with inflammation and redness.
Let it Heal
You will never be able to truly recover from an injury if you don’t let the injured area undergo a period of proper healing. The only way to do this is to stop using the injured body part for some time, even if this means missing out on your workout or sport. It’s much better to allow a few days of healing rather than using the body part and having it be permanently injured.
Remember, if you feel pain in the area, you should immediately stop using it. Pain is a good indicator of whether your injury has started to heal. The best thing to do is to immobilize your injury by putting a splint or bandages around it and being careful for a few days. If you attempt to use it too aggressively, you will end up hurting yourself in the long run.