Every single athlete out there knows how stressful it can be to be injured. Recovery is often not handled as it should be, usually because of the desire to get back to training as fast as possible. In fact, according to Noll, the auto accident attorney Springfield IL, most athletes hurt their career by not doing all that is actually needed to properly recover. With this in mind, it is important to know about the following ways in which you can recover faster. They help you to properly heal and get back stronger than before the injury.
The RICE Method
Whenever talking about a soft tissue injury, like a muscle tear or sprain, the immediate treatment helps but what you do after is what is important. We thus have RICE, the most-known acronym in sports. This stands for:
- Rest – When injured, you want to rest and not go through extra unnecessary physical activity. Just because you have your shoulder injured does not mean it is a good idea to go bungee jumping in Canada. Take it easy.
- Ice – The injured area needs to be iced for around 20 minutes per session, for around 5 times per day. This reduces muscle spasms, pain and
- Compression – You want to apply compression to areas that are injured, especially during the first 2 days after being injured.
- Elevation – Injured limb needs to be elevated so that swelling is reduced. For instance, when your ankle is injured, keep it above hip level.
Get Treated as Fast as Possible
Athletes are tough but this does not mean you need to suffer in silence. Whenever there is an underlying issue discovered, a serious condition that the doctor tells you needsto be treated, it is vital that you get the necessary treatment. As soon as you are injured, the first thing to do is to go to the doctor and get checked out. Do not postpone this as it can easily make the industry a lot worse.
Have Supervision During Rehabilitation
We like to think that we can recover alone and this is true in many cases. However, it does not mean it is a good idea to do it alone. Even if you no longer feel pain and swelling disappeared, you have to keep going until recovery is complete. Being supervised by a specialist is the best thing that you can do. After rehabilitation is done, sports physical therapists keep working with athletes in order to get performance at peak levels.
Analyze Why You Were Injured
Besides recovering from the injury you suffered, it is also really important that you prevent future injury. You have to understand what happened and what actually led to the injury. After, you need to avoid being faced with the same circumstances that initially affected you. Video analysis is normally helpful when referring to capturing movement. This is normally something that helps identify improper movements that could have led to the appearance of the scenario that made the injury a reality.