Getting an injury is awful. But what’s the best course of action when you’re not feeling your best?
Is it RICE? Is it nothing? Is it icing? WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO DO?
I bring this up because I’ve answered a ton of questions the last few weeks about injuries, be it ankle sprains, foot pain or back issues. The good news for us is that there are a few steps you can take post-injury, regardless of the specific type of injury you’ve endured.
Here are the 3 things to do if you have an injury or pain:
WAIT
If you are suffering from an acute injury – an ankle sprain or throwing out your back from a very specific move that you remember doing, then waiting at least 48 hours for things to calm down a bit is best. Ice can help with pain in these first few days as you allow the inflammation and healing process to do its thing.
GET MOVING
Believe it or not, movement is one of the best ways to jumpstart the healing process. Even if your injury was not caused by an acute trauma (maybe you just woke up and your foot hurts), moving will help to keep all things chugging along as you heal. Keep your movement pain-free. Meaning, if it always hurts if you move it this way, stop moving it like that until you can do so pain-free.
For a back injury, the best movement to start with can be as simple as deep breathing. For foot pain, you may start with ankle circles off the edge of the bed.
Your movement doesn’t always have to be a big production and doing something that doesn’t create a ton of compensation throughout the rest of your body is best.
GET STRONGER
Now that you can move with minimal pain, it’s time to build strength all around the injury. (Re) learn to breathe so you can master core strength that supports you from the inside out. Build grip strength so your entire upper body is stronger and more resilient. Build foot strength by going barefoot as often as possible, walking on a variety of surfaces, and doing calf raises for fun whenever you find a ledge.
Your strength training doesn’t have to look like Arnold doing bench presses on muscle beach – it can be in subtle ways that fit throughout your day and can be done in whatever you’re wearing.
While the specifics may be different depending on the injury, the overall goals are the same – get you back to where you were pre-injury, or, better than you were before!
It’s all 100% possible – and I can show you how. You’re not that old and you don’t have to feel like you are – check out one of the options below for your next steps.
PS Ready to wake up every morning pain-free? Here are 3 ways I can help you now:
- Join the AE Wellness Body Nerds and connect with other busy women on a quest to make self-care easy and to move more every day.
- Join me for my free online class, Movement Managed: How to Move Better and Feel Better, Every Day and learn how to stop feeling exhausted, stressed out and completely disconnected from your body.
- Tired of feeling exhausted, stressed out and completely disconnected from your body? – let’s chat. Click here to tell me a little bit about what’s going on and I’ll get you the details!
