After suffering an injury, you need to give your body time to heal, or else you’ll risk making said injury even worse. That is a matter of fact. However, there are things family practice doctors say you can do to help hasten your recovery. Here are just a few.
Ice It Up. – Immediately after you’ve suffered an injury, you should put ice on it. Leave it on there for about 10 minutes, then take it off, and put the ice back on again for another 10 minutes. If it starts melting quickly on you, get more, perhaps after you take it off the first time. You’re going to want to keep icing it as you continue to heal. Do it three times a day for the first 72 hours — once in the morning, once at noon, and again at night.
Work It Out. – Now, this is not to necessarily say you should just walk it off, but it is a good idea to do frequent, low-intensity activation on the injured muscle. This will start the healing process, keeping blood flowing throughout the muscle and preventing over-shortening during the recovery process. An example of what you might want to do would be going for short walks, and doing leg swings after a hamstring injury. Basically, do something that doesn’t involve a whole ton of exertion.
Try Getting a Massage. – Massages can help heal a ton of different injuries, such as a pulled muscle, or a strained tendon. By relieving overworked muscles, massages help alleviate soreness, and can even reduce swelling. If a massage is given within just three hours of the pain, research shows that a strained muscle will be about one-third less sore and swollen three days later. The same study found that just one massage can help muscles recover faster.
If you’ve been injured, you need to see your family doctor to have it looked at, and to discuss the best course of action moving forward. Be sure to take it easy, and follow these tips if you’d like to get over your injury faster.
If you have any questions, feel free to share in the comments.
