When your injured it’s difficult to see past your pain and focus on your recovery. These are the things that you can do to help speed up your recovery.

Accept

The sooner you accept your injury and allow yourself to think positively the sooner you can begin to recover. Positive thinking has a huge impact on the body and will allow you to get to the past the negative impact of your injury.

Do your research

Every day your closer to your recovery. Try looking at athletes who have had similar injuries to you. Learn about their recovery process and rehabilitation, you will see there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Rest and Time

The healing process takes time and requires rest for the body. When you begin to feel improvements, take your time & keep yourself protected. Although you may be able to move more, you are still in the healing process so don’t over do it. Slow and Steady.

Maintain where Possible

If you temporally lose use of a limb or muscle these are still exercises/activities you can do to help maintain as much of its function as possible.

Any activity around the injured site is going to help as long as no pain is present… find what works for you and work with a good physiotherapist to give you confidence in the movement you can/ can’t do.

Self treatment

Ice helps to reduce swelling which in turn will you allow you maximum movement mobility and reduce pain.

Giving yourself light massage above the injury site is going to help with cell exchange and filling the area with blood & nutrients it needs to recover.

Comfrey also known as Knitbone, can applied to the skin as an oil or ointment, this can help to bring broken bones together. Arnica is also good to use for massage as it helps to reduce bruising and swelling, minimising pain.

Inactive < Active mind

If you cant keep active due to your injury, keep your mind active instead. This is the time to focus on that project you have never had the time to before, learn a language or write a novel. You can still achieve something amazing when your body isn’t 100%. Remember positive thinking!

You are what you eat

You want to be a lean mean healing machine so need to give yourself as much of the fuel it needs to repair and cut out the produce that is going to slow it down.

Max yourself out with good proteins such as nuts, seeds and beans and eat as many vegetables as you can to increase your nutrient intake.

The body heals best in an alkalise state, lemon water is great to alkalise the body and its tastes delicious. Avoid acidic food such as meats, high sugar foods, caffeine and highly processed foods. Avoid alcohol as it’s also highly acidic & put you in a dangerous position for re-injury.

Speak to your local nutritionist to give yourself the best idea of what to eat and to get a taylor made food plan around your lifestyle and recovery.

Soft tissue Work

Go to see your local physiotherapist for help & guidance on you rehabilitation back to normal function. They will give you stretches and strengthening exercises to do daily throughout the different stages of recovery.

A remedial massage will do you wonders, helping to encourage your healing process by increasing blood flow, kicking the cardiovascular system into gear to help with cell renewal as the site of the injury. They will also help with the trauma of the injury, assessing any compensation the body may be doing and work with the soft tissue to encourage a healthy heal.

TLC

You have to come first! At this stage of your injury you need to look after yourself with a big dose of tender love and care. It’s going to make the weeks of recovery a lot more easier and will help you keep smiling though your frustrations.