If you have been unfortunate enough to receive a sports injury getting better quickly will be a top priority. Sports injuries happen but a few simple steps can help bring a faster recovery letting you bounce back after a sports injury and get back to doing what you love.
Fried RICE?
RICE is actually an acronym for Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation – when a sports injury happens the first few days are critical to setting the healing process off in the right direction.
- Rest
If you suffer an injury, stop your training straight away. Try and rest for a couple of days and avoid weight-bearing or lifting. Sometimes raising the injured area can alleviate swelling and pain. Resting will also minimise and bruising from the injury. You may need to consider working from home to enable faster healing.
- Ice
An ice pack is useful immediately but be sure it’s carefully covered in a suitable towel to prevent freezing injury. Apply the ice pack for about 10 minutes at a time every few hours for the first few days of recovery. Cold helps keep swelling down. Sometimes ice isn’t the most convenient shape and a bag of frozen sweetcorn can shape well for your body.
- Compression
Elasticated crepe bandages can provide compression to injuries as this also reduces swelling. But they should not be applied so tight as to restrict blood flow. Any tingling or feeling numb and the bandage should be loosened.
- Elevation
Keeping the injured limb or body part raised will help with pain and swelling. Elevating injured limbs should be a consideration in this type of injury to speed recovery.
Staying Safe When Playing Sports
Once you have gone through the above steps, you might want to start to add gentle exercise and stretches to your routine again, to help ensure you stay fit enough to enjoy your favourite spot. Taking part in a resistance bands workout can be a good way to do this, as it allows you to work some exercise and movement back into your daily routine without the worry of taking things too far and injuring yourself further.
Prevention is always better than cure, so make sure you warm up correctly before exercise or sport. Use the correct equipment for your sport, this especially includes footwear as many injuries can happen through wearing unsuitable shoes for your chosen sport. Whether you are injured or not making contact with a London physio, or indeed one local to you can help to both prevent injury and help you bounce back much quicker when it does happen. Physios generally offer a range of sports massages and treatments so it is worth speaking to one about what you feel you might need and what they can offer you that will help you bounce back after a sports injury.
We would love to hear and share your methods to bounce back after a sports injury in the comments section.
*Collaborative post
About Debz Louise
Debz Louise is a UK-based lifestyle expert and the founder of several lifestyle blogs, including Wannabe Princess and Under 5s. Specializing in everything from interior design and home renovation to body-positive fashion and early years development,