9 Steps To Getting Back To Exercise After An Injury

An injury is never fun, but it can be especially frustrating if you’re an active person. If you’re used to exercising daily or multiple times per week, getting back to work is of extreme importance. Depending on how severe the injury is, your recovery time can take days, weeks, or even months. That might include physical therapy or another form of rehabilitation. Even after you’ve finished your rehab, you might need to give your body some active rest to fully heal. The last thing you want to do is re-injure yourself and have to go through all that pain and recovery process again. At Beyond Physical Therapy in Franklin, TN, we’re here to help you get back to exercise after injuring yourself.

However, if you want to recover successfully, there are some steps you’ll need to take. You don’t want to jump in too fast and push yourself too hard. Here are 9 steps that will help you get back into your exercise workouts safely while avoiding pain and injury. 

Don’t go straight back to your regular routine

You can expect the same amount of time that you were on the sidelines with your injury to get your endurance back. This means if you were out for two weeks with a sprained ankle, it will take about two weeks before you get back to peak performance. For more severe injuries, such as a broken bone or torn ligament that required surgery, you can count on even more time to return to your previous form. 

Always start small. If you’ve been laid up for a while, start by walking every day. Do what feels comfortable without pushing it. Build up slowly to jogging and increase your distance by small increments. Push to your pain, but not through your pain. If you’re in pain, you should modify your exercise immediately. We recommend low-impact progression to high-impact activity, such as starting on a bike, progressing to an elliptical, then to jogging/running. You’re only risking further injury by continuing to perform the aggravating factors. You’ll be sore when you start exercising again, and you should use that soreness as a gauge. It should diminish as you progress day by day. If you’re really sore after a workout, cut back next time or give yourself an extra day between workouts. If you’re jogging slowly for a mile and you don’t feel too sore the next day, increase the distance or jog a little faster in your next workout. Add more weight or reps to your bench press if your chest isn’t too sore from the previous workout. Use these small steps to gradually build yourself up to where you were before the injury. We have tons of ideas to modify your workouts to get your heart rate up without risking re-injury.

Lift lighter weights

After an injury, you can’t be certain how your body will react to exercise, so you should start even lighter than you think you can handle. This is especially true if you’ve been out for longer than two weeks, where you’ll notice a definite decline in muscle and aerobic capacity. Decreasing the level of your workout will decrease the possibility of re-injuring yourself. Always make sure you rest in between workouts to let your muscles recover and gain back endurance. If weight training is part of your exercise routine, you shouldn’t resume training until you get the okay from your doctor or therapist. When you do start back, make sure you use very light weights to begin with and slowly work your way back up to where you were before your injury. This will limit your soreness and help reduce the risk of re-injury. 

Stick to lower impact workouts

It’s a good idea to switch your exercise to an activity that results in less strain on the injured area. For example, if you’re used to running 2 or 3 miles a day, and you were out due to a sprained knee or broken ankle, you could switch to a low-impact exercise such as swimming laps to lessen the strain on that knee or ankle. That way you can still push yourself without the risk of re-injury. At the same time, lightly jog or walk on the ankle at first to begin building strength back in it. As you build up strength, you can start to run more and swim less until you’re back to full strength.  

You may have been used to doing high-intensity workouts several times a week, but after an injury, you’ll need to keep the intensity at a minimum until you build up your strength and endurance. 

Always warm up and stretch

Many times, injuries occur because we haven’t warmed up or sufficiently stretched out our muscles before performing our exercises. Dynamic stretching will help loosen tight muscles and is a great way to help prevent more injuries. Yoga is a very good way to stretch as well as increase strength and improve balance and flexibility. Join a yoga class as part of your exercise program. 

Don’t push past pain

A common phrase at the gym is “no pain, no gain.” As a Therapist we prefer the phrase “know pain, know gain.” At Beyond PT, we help you understand which pain is healthy and which pain you should listen to. But if you feel pain while exercising after coming back from an injury, it’s a good bet something is wrong and you should modify your approach. Perform movements slowly and don’t go beyond the range of motion where you start to feel pain. With time, you’ll get your full range of motion back if you continue to work that area. Try for small increases that don’t take you beyond that pain threshold. 

Stretch and cool down after a workout 

After your workout, give your body time to cool down. The goal is to return your body temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate to normal. Some great ways to do this include static stretches, deep breathing techniques, and low-intensity cardio.  Cooling down can decrease the buildup of lactic acid, which can help prevent muscle soreness following exercise. Using ice on the injured area can also help decrease soreness, inflammation, and aggravation of the muscles and joints.   

Give yourself adequate time to recover

To help prevent a recurrence of your injury or a new injury, always give your body enough time to recover between workouts. The recommended time to rest for muscular strengthening is 48 hours for the same body part and only 24 hours for muscular endurance exercises. Focus on different muscle groups or stimulus throughout the week to ensure that your muscles have time to recover. Another important factor in preventing future injuries is to always perform exercises with proper form and technique. 

Eat well and stay hydrated

Food plays a big part in the body’s healing process and shouldn’t be overlooked. Eat whole, natural food, including plenty of fruits and vegetables.Protein is essential to the muscular recovery process.  Stay away from junk foods and alcohol. Drink lots of fluids, especially water. Eating right and staying hydrated are essential keys to speeding up your recovery process. .

Visit a physical therapist

To ensure you heal as quickly as possible, make sure you’re seeing a professional physical therapist in your area. Physical therapy can speed up the recovery process and ensure that you don’t keep reinjuring yourself. At Beyond Physical Therapy in Franklin, TN, Dr. Javier Pere will help you recover in a safe and effective way. He uses gentle stretches, exercises, and technology to help aid your body’s recovery. If you’re looking for the best physical therapist in Franklin, you’ll find it here!

Contact Beyond Physical Therapy at Berry Farms Today

Exercise is healthy for your body and positively impacts your mental health as well. If you’ve been injured, the setback affects you in all of these areas. Getting back into exercise is important, and even though it’s a slow process, doing it the right way will help lessen the risk of re-injury. By following these steps, you’ll be back to full strength before you know it. Make an appointment at Beyond Physical Therapy today by calling (629) 239-3170!