Being injured is frustrating! While the days off work and an excuse to lounge around sound inviting at first, it can start to feel less like a break and more like forced house arrest if the healing process is taking a while.
Getting back on your own two feet is important, but pushing yourself before your body is ready may lead to further injury. At BodyViva, we are the health experts who can help get you back to 100%. We offer a range of services, such as: physiotherapy, chiropractic, massage therapy, acupuncture, podiatry, kinesiology, as well as pilates and physio exercise.
Our clinics have services to get you back in action quickly, but some lifestyle changes can also speed up your recovery from home.
Fuel Your Body With The Correct Nutrients
What you put into your body is instrumental in how well it can recover. While nursing an injury, your body is working in overtime to mend. Giving it the right fuel means you will increase the rate in which you heal. Proteins are the building blocks of your muscles, so for muscular injuries, a high protein diet will help knit strains, or tears faster.
Before you go to the closest grocery store to clear the shelves of chicken and beans, there are other nutrients that can help speed up the healing process, such as:
- Zinc: Found in red meat, oysters, pumpkin seeds, almonds.
- Vitamin A: Found in eggs, most orange/yellow coloured fruits and veggies (carrots, sweet potatoes, apricots, etc).
- Vitamin C: Found in broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, spinach, potatoes, tomatoes.
- Vitamin E: Found in nuts, seeds, vegetable oils.
- Omega 3: Fish and seafood, nuts, plant oils.
Start Stretching To Stimulate The Muscles
When you’re on the road to recovery, stretching can help train your body without overexerting it. Stretching immediately after injury will likely further injure yourself; however, if given the go-ahead by a medical professional, it can help improve the strength of the affected area and lightly stimulate the muscles.
Use Proper Protection For Your Injury
If you’re nursing a sprain, break or pulled muscle, it’s easy to re-agitate by doing even the most mundane tasks. Proper bracing and wrappings add a protective layer over your injury, while padded braces can help protect a damaged area from bumps and knocks. Wrappings like compression tape help minimize swelling by keeping fluids from gathering at the injury site.
Exercise – Without Aggravating Your Injury
We know this might seem counter-intuitive, but exercise helps the body to speed up recovery. The important thing to know here is that you must find an exercise program which does not affect your injured area.
For example, if you’re nursing a quadricep (thigh) injury, jogging is off the table because you run the risk of doing further damage. Instead, some seated upper body exercises would be the best way to boost your body’s recovery process.
Rest To Increase The Rate Of Healing
Sleep is the most important thing you can do while recovering. No matter how well you follow the other steps, if you’re not sleeping well, then your recovery time will take a massive hit. Your body reserves its healing time for when you’re asleep.
While asleep, your body produces HGH at a high rate to help build new tissue. Your body does heal while you’re awake, but think of it as a crawl compared to the sprinting speed that it does while you rest.
Follow The Treatment Schedule
Our team of health experts at BodyViva can give you a schedule to complete after you leave the clinic. This schedule may include ways to manage and reduce your symptoms, allowing you to do more with less pain.
Your injuries are specific to your condition. It’s best to run through what will work best for you with a trained professional. At BodyViva, your health is our top priority, so ask any of our friendly, qualified, health professionals, and we can figure out the best system for you.
