It can be frustrating when you are feeling good about your exercise routine and then sustain an injury. Injuries range from minor to severe, and yet they all can impede your normal exercise routine. Don’t let your hard work of building your exercise habits go away—there are things you can do in the meantime.
Listen to Your Doctor
According to Whole Life Challenge, the most important thing you can do after an injury is listen to your doctor. Your doctor is the expert in your condition and knows what you should and shouldn’t do while you are recovering from your injury. Rather than stop exercising completely, brainstorm with them how you can keep doing some exercise. For example, if you have injured your leg, you may still be able to do some upper body exercises while your leg heals. You can ask about using different equipment, doing body weight exercises, or any other way you can keep active even as you heal.
Try New Activities
Your injury may be something that prevents you from doing the activity you truly enjoy. So, trying new activities will be helpful for you to maintain your fitness while your body heals your injury. According to SwimJim, swimming is great if you have a joint injury because water helps support you. This low impact activity still provides you with a great cardiovascular workout, and some resistance so you can maintain some level of fitness until you can return to your preferred activity. Who knows, you may end up loving your new activities so much they become part of your routine!
Take it Slow
According to CRPM, the best thing you can do when injured is to take it slow. You may need to take a break following an injury and do nothing, and that is ok. You can begin to add exercise slowly as you progress through your recovery. Don’t do too much too fast, or you could exacerbate the injury and prolong recovery. Start with lower intensity movements and keep consulting with your doctor on how and when to increase the intensity. Don’t do too much daily activity either. Even overdoing it on something like house chores can be enough to set you back.
While injuries can be frustrating, be sure to show yourself patience and kindness during your recovery. It will be possible to make a return to exercise. In the meantime, be sure to check in with your doctor, do other activities as you can, and take it slow!
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