Sports Injury Recovery: how to optimise and speed up the process

You may or may not know but I am a sports masseuse. I am always seeing people after a sports injury. No matter what kind of sport you take part in, accidents and injuries can easily happen. Not only can they be extremely painful, but some injuries are severe enough to put you out of action for weeks or even permanently. If you’re an active person, this can make you feel defeated and cause you to lose all motivation. But in some cases, the recovery process can actually to boost your determination and improve your technique. So use this guide to making a full recovery and come back better than before.

Get a sports injury diagnosis

If you’ve sustained an injury, the first thing you need to do is get with any sports injury is a medical diagnosis. Many people don’t seek this help straight away as they believe that their pain will eventually wear off. If the pain continues or gets worse, it’s vital that you get medical assistance. The doctors will be able to carry out tests to determine what is causing your pain and discomfort. This is also an excellent opportunity to think carefully about how the injury occurred. Maybe it was caused by another medical issue you have or perhaps it was just human error. Knowing what caused your injury can help the doctor prescribe the best form of treatment. Depending on how severe your injury is, you may need surgery, time off work and help at home.

Start a rehab plan 

Once your doctor has given you pain relief for your sports injury, the next step is to establish a suitable rehabilitation plan. This will give you assistance and support from experts who can help you start to regain movement and strength. This plan will include simple exercises that are tailored to you and your injury. As you progress, these exercises will get more challenging to encourage your body to regain strength and form. The physical therapist and trainers can also help you stop getting injured again in future by improving your balance and posture. They may even help you improve your technique too. Your rehab plan will take time, so it’s important to remain patient even though you will feel frustrated at times. Having a supportive team around you will give you the motivation you need to continue. 

Sort your nutrition 

Recovery like training is not all about the physical aspects. Your body needs different vitamins and minerals to help the recovery processes and to perform at prime capability. It is important to know what your body needs to keep it performing at its optimum to accelerate the healing process and maintain health and fitness. Where to start with nutrition can be overwhelming. I recommend starting with vitamin and nutritional testing. This will give you a baseline of what your body requires. This will give you the right stepping stone to the best recovery process. Get 15% discount from Healthlabs on any of their extensive range of health testing. This is the best time to really learn about how your body works and what vitamins and minerals you need not only for the recovery process but for future training. 

Don’t push yourself 

No matter what sports injury you have sustained, it’s important that you don’t rush your recovery. This will only increase the risk of further injury and damage being caused to your body. We all heal at different rates, and it’s important to allow your body to heal fully before rejoining your sport. Keep yourself preoccupied during your recovery to stay enthusiastic and focused. You could enlist the help of a personal trainer to help you continue to build up your strength. You may even want to use this time to help coach sports teams in your local area. this will keep you involved with your team or sport whilst recovering from your sports injury. This will stop you feeling like you are missing out. 

Once you feel back to normal and have fully healed, there is no reason why you can’t rejoin your team or coach. Just remember to pace yourself.