It doesn’t matter if you’re a gym newbie or a professional athlete, injuries happen to almost everyone at some point. Injury can often be the perfect excuse to deter you from exercising altogether and can undo all the hard work you’ve been doing… but only if you let it. However, just because you can’t train with the full force you normally would, it doesn’t mean you should throw your Nike’s out the window altogether. Here are some tips on dealing with injuries:
Don’t be discouraged
Just because you’ve injured one part of your body doesn’t mean that you have to stop training entirely…unless of course, a medical professional has clearly told you this!
Our trainers are here to help you and make sure you don’t aggravate a new or existing injury. It’s always important to be vocal about your current aches and pains with your trainer before a class or session – they can’t assist you if they don’t know there’s a problem! Your trainer isn’t going to judge you for taking it easy on your injured area and no one in the class is going to think any less of you either. There’s always ways around working out with an injury…and your trainer will be able to advise you the exercises you should avoid so you don’t exacerbate it any further and enable it to heal. They’ll be able to let you know other exercises you can do instead to still ensure you’re getting that heart rate up and obtaining the most out of your training.
Stretch and Support
Never underestimate the power of the spiky massage ball and the foam roller for muscular injuries (we have them in the gym for a reason, team!) These guys will be your best friends when it comes to easing tight muscles before and after a workout (see our post to follow on the benefits of foam rolling ). Use foam rollers for large muscles and spiky balls to get into those smaller areas. This form of self-massage, coupled with a solid warm up that focuses on all of your major muscles, using activation drills is a great way to prevent further injury and will often stop a small one from getting worse. Word of warning though, it can be uncomfortable rolling out those little aches and pains!
If you work in an office all day, ensure you are taking steps to combat your injury from this end as well. Companies take the wellbeing of their staff seriously, they’d prefer it if you were at your desk and comfortable rather than not there at all. Don’t be afraid to ask for a chair with better back support, a keyboard with wrist support (toilet rolls placed under your wrists whilst typing encourage very strange looks from your colleagues…trust me) or a step under your desk on which to place your feet. More often than not, you’ll find these little things make the road to recovery much quicker.
Bring in the Professionals
If you’ve rested the area for a few weeks, done all the right stretches, rolling, possibly a massage and the pain isn’t going away or it’s getting worse, it’s time to seek the advice of a rehab trainer, physiotherapist or chiropractor in order to avoid permanent damage to the area. If your after a great Physio I can’t recommend the team enough at ERKO physio in Erskineville. I have been seeing the team here for 7 years.
