Who’s had injuries? Who’s been told that they need rest completely and not do anything?
This happen’s all the time for clients who come to see me – and while sometimes this is the right thing to do, most of the time there are alternatives and in actual fact complete rest can be more detrimental then beneficial.
Did you know that only one day of bed rest can actually cause up to a 50% decrease in your muscle mass and strength? So since when does it actually seem right the have complete rest? Realistically it doesn’t. Your health care professional should be encouraging some cross training and low load exercises (if it is applicable) to ensure that not only you maintain your strength but also the integrity of your tendons and bones.
If its a lower limb injury and it’s running that you’ve been doing – alternatives include cycling and water running. Both provide great cardiovascular and strength training while keeping the load off the lower limb. This not only assists in keeping the strength up on the injured limb but also maintains the strength in the uninjured limb which has been shown to have negative strength impacts secondary to the injury. This should be combined with retraining of the body to ensure that the deficits created by the injury are also addressed.
The importance of modification of activity with injuries can’t be understated. You don’t want to be coming back from a decreased level of fitness as well as the injury. So when people tell you that you can’t exercise maybe check out the alternative ways to keep active and stay on top of your road to recovery.
Related Tags: Sports Physiotherapist Gold Coast | Injury Management Gold Coast | Pilates Classes Gold Coast
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