Sports Then and Now

Suffering an injury from activities you enjoy can be a disaster, especially if the injury is serious and leads to prolonged recuperation periods. But the time and challenges of recovery can be minimal if you observe these ways to shorten your recovery time.

First Steps

The first course of treatment following a sports-related injury is summed up by the acronym “RICE”—rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Rest the injured body part, apply ice to reduce inflammation and pain, wrap the injury snugly but not tightly, and elevate the injured limb to reduce swelling. Often modest injuries are best dealt with by allowing your body to rest and heal on its own.

Seek Help

There’s a big difference between minor sprains and pains and serious injury. If you’re really suffering, or if RICE does no good whatsoever, it’s time to see a medical professional. A specialist who has graduated from an online radiology school can help diagnose your injury by working with other healthcare professionals.

Take your doctor’s advice to heart, and give yourself enough time to properly recover. You may need to have surgery if your injury is serious. Be sure to follow through with any recommended physical therapy services to help you bounce back as quickly as possible.

Nutrition

Don’t neglect the idea of giving your body the nutrients it needs to replace damaged tissue. Diet and hydration are important to physical recovery. Consider exploring the variety of vitamins and herbal supplements that apply to your condition. For instance, glucosamine is commonly used to promote healing of the joints, while turmeric helps torn muscle. As always, you should eat more greens while avoiding sugars, alcohol, and processed foods, but especially so when trying to speed recovery.

Don’t Give up

Recovery can be grueling, but keep reminding yourself that the more you focus on recovery, the quicker it will be over. Try other activities to burn off energy, such as hobbies, games, or exercise of non-injured body parts. Work your core muscles if you can. As you start to feel normal, you can return slowly to light activity, being careful not to push yourself too hard and set back your progress.

Whatever form of athletics you take part in, remind yourself that there are 1.35 million sports injuries per year in youths. Injury is normal, and recovery will come. Make preventative measures such as stretching and warm-ups part of your game, and don’t try to “play through” injuries that could be serious. If you’re really committed to a particular sport, the downtime could be your chance to observe and learn.