Preventing and Healing Injuries

This page is a resource for athletes and non-athletes to share experiences with overcoming physical injuries. We want to know what non-medical, self-care changes made an impact in overcoming an injury i.e., what lifestyle changes, alternate exercises and equipment adjustments worked for you (customsports@bellsouth.net) and we will share it with others, so that they too, can build a bridge back to full health & fitness.

There are several stages of injury, which is essentially a part of your body being out of balance. After the initial action or activities that created the injury there is a period of inflammation where ice, rest and elevation are usually recommended. The key is knowing how long to rest, when and how to resume activities, and it comes from monitoring the inflammation level, seeing how the injury reacts to mild activity. Just rest alone will not assure a true recovery; it is necessary to strenghten the area to prevent recurrence. It may be necessary to modify your technique until the injured area is strong enough. Stretching the area and the surrounding muscles groups is often required as well, as the body tends to contract to protect itself.

There is a bad, over-reactive inflammation that sharply increases pain and there is a beneficial inflammation, a blood-infusing , healing oxygenation from the right type of activity. You turn the corner when you can work out and have a good type of soreness, not the sensitive-to-touch soreness with sharp pain sensations. It takes time to get back in balance, usually as long as it took to get out of balance. With overuse injuries, you missed the sub-conscious signals of increasing soreness; we become aware when the injury breaks the surface and gets our attention through pain. Massage is good to keep us aware, give a warning on inflammatory build-up. Your body decides when it is ready to heal; all we can do is prepare it by getting enough rest, eating healthy, doing alternate exercises and building strength while increasing our flexibility. Every injury carries a mental component. For full healing we have to see ourselves getting better, see scar tissue stronger than muscle.

Prevention of injury is vital. Joint stabilization is essential for all athletes, especially after the natural elasticity of youth wears off in our late twenties. We ask an incredible amount of work from our knees and shoulders and give nothing in return. Exercises to strengthen and lengthen surrounding and connecting knee and shoulder muscle groups are essential for anyone looking for lifetime fitness. Core abdominal and back muscle groups get tired but never cramp up; they ask to be worked, to become long and strong. They lace together to form the basis, an internal framework that gives balance, grace and fluidity to all our motions. Commit to a balanced, natural lifetime fitness program and add core-strenthening and joint stabilization into your routine and you will get the most you can out of life.