For any sports person injuries are hard. Injuries may cause the downfall of any sports person’s career. It not only hinders the game but compromises an athlete’s performance and his health which he has worked extremely hard for. It is always good to take some time off if you’re injured. Sufficient rest and revival is recommended to regroup and decide when to return to the game. Depending on the type and extent of the injury, and the sport you are playing, the rest period and the time off will vary.
If you want to keep yourself fit even during the injury, there are ways to do that with proper care. Before you get into any form of fitness exercise, get approval from your doctor and make sure you are ready for it. It is best to take the help of a professional like a physio therapist in the beginning to help you gain the momentum.
If you have an ankle or foot injury, there are multiple equipment’s that can help you move around with the injury like crepe bandage, ankle binder, heel protector and so on. These will give enough support to prevent further injury. Depending on the injury, you can use rowing machine or stationary bike with a sturdy and robust wire work, with the non-injured leg to gain muscle strength and also to enhance your fitness.
For leg and knee injury, the movement is even more limited and knee wrap, knee immobiliser or knee support can be used to heal the injury faster. Types of exercises to gain fitness is limited in this type of injury but one can try swimming using a pull buoy to prevent you from accidentally using your injured leg.
Elbow and Shoulder Injuries or other upper body injuries still give the athlete the opportunity to maintain their fitness. You can still go for cardio exercises, walking, climbing or any other type of exercises where upper body is not required to be used. You can use stationery bike, elliptical trainer, rowing bike and treadmills for exercises.
Lower back injuries are the worst which at the extreme could put you in bed for days. It takes longer to recover and keeps you immobilised most of the time. This will definitely harm the fitness level as well. Depending on the extent of injury, your doctor may prescribe to start swimming, slow walking and so on.
It is crucial to consider the revival period very seriously. During their recovery phase, athletes get extremely restless due to the inability to play their favourite sports or utilise their favourite sporting gears. Distractions as simple as product displays that an athlete comes across while passing by a shop might tempt them enough to over exert themselves and lose what strength they had gained with a lot of difficulty.
If the injury you sustained is multiple there is going to be longer recovery time for healing the injury and also getting back into shape. Hydrotherapy, stretching, compression garments and massage can be used to recover sooner. There are different endurance exercises which can be done depending on the type of injury and such exercises will help you get back into the game sooner. Compression garments are good to reduce space between muscles which could cause swelling in the affected area. The external pressure exerted by this garment also promotes alignment of muscle fibres in a stable manner reducing muscle soreness. Massage of the affected areas will help soothe the injury better. The massage had to be done from a trained professional as improper massage could lead more problems. Hot and cold compression is also very common to treat any type of muscle injury.
When you are not playing, it is natural to go off the carefully planned diet leading to deficiency of enough nutrients for the body. Vitamins and minerals required to gain muscle strength needs to be taken along with other medicines required to heal the injury.