Rest.
It’s what the doctor ordered, right?
For the longest time people in the medical, health, fitness, and performance world(s) thought the first thing needed after an injury is rest.
It makes sense, though.
You recover when you sleep, so why wouldn’t you rest up to heal an injury?
The thing is, our bodies are super complex and are extremely resourceful if we give it what it needs.
Our bodies aren’t meant to just hang out, watching ‘sodes on Netflix and counting the days until we’re ready to workout again.
Our bodies are meant to move.
Our bodies are meant to be active, to have blood flowing, to have muscles contracting and to have organ systems interacting with each other to allow us to survive, thrive, heal and perform.
When we are injured, typically the LAST thing we should do is rest.
And thank god general consensus has shifted toward this.
When my dad got his first knee replacement surgery over a decade ago, he was bed ridden for days and was starting to walk almost a week later. It was a slow and agonizing process that took months to get him back in action.
Flash forward to his second knee replacement surgery a couple years ago and they had him walking the same day and literally had us pick him up a few hours later.
“Do your exercises and we’ll see you for your follow up”, the Doc said.
Wildly different experience for him the second time around.
They wanted him to MOVE? And RIGHT AWAY??
No shit they did.
They wanted his blood flowing so nutritions could flow through his body and heal him more rapidly.
They wanted to create an environment for his body that didn’t resemble a stagnant swap.
They wanted that river flowing and things to be happening.
Our bodies march by the same drummer. When you get injured the chances are that you need to bring blood flow to the injured area to begin the healing process.
Now, I don’t want to generalize too much here as not all injuries as created equal. If you’re seriously injured and need surgery or medical intervention, this article is outside of my scope.
I’m not saying don’t go get checked out or to self diagnose.
And I’m not saying go back full throttle into what you’ve been doing.
That would be silly and counterproductive.
What I am saying… is if you strain a hamstring working out or playing ball? Rest isn’t the answer.
If you have an acute injury like this or you roll an ankle, or throw out your back, active recovery is the key.
In the first 24 hours after a setback like this you’ll want to ice to reduce excess inflammation. Inflammation is actually a good thing, but the body can over do it and healing takes longer.
After that initial 24 hour period I’d go with heat.
Use a heating pad, bust out the massage gun, get someone to help you massage it gently, hop on the foam roller, do some light stretching, do SOMETHING, rather than NOTHING.
Do that for a few days.
As soon as you can without too much discomfort (3/10 or so), get that bod rocking and rolling with some light exercise.
So many times I’ve seen someone with a long lasting injury such as a hamstring strain, shoulder pain, a rolled ankle that they didn’t take care of… and they’ve been dealing with it for years.
You know what seems to magically happen when I make them stop resting and start actively attacking the issue? You honestly won’t believe it…
Pain is reduced and performance is through the roof.
WOW!!
Blood flow and strengthening are the keys to rehabbing an injury.
Do yourself a favor and think “active” next time you’re down for the count.
You aren’t broken, you aren’t fragile, you have the tools to kick ass and take names and get that shit healed up even stronger than before… you just have to change your mindset from old school to new school and you’ll be on your way.