If you’ve experienced a fitness-related injury recently, it’s possible you’ve been looking for easy and fast ways to help you recover quickly so that you resume your sporting or fitness activities as soon as possible. It’s also possible you already know that natural pain management and body healing remedies are the most appropriate, but haven’t been able to find suitable strategies to try out so far. If that’s you, then this article is here for you. Keep reading to discover the top natural ways to improve your fitness injury today sustainably, quickly and painlessly.
Follow the “RICE” method
When you just suffer a physical injury, there’re a series of natural activities you should perform to treat the injury and speed up your recovery. These include: rest, ice, compression and elevation, and they are denoted by the mnemonic “RICE.”
So, the first thing you need to do when you get injured is to stop and rest as much as you can for the first 48 hours. Within this period, apply an ice pack on the injured area to reduce pain and swelling. Next, get a clean elastic medical bandage and use it to wrap the affected area to prevent excessive swelling. Finally, find a way to raise the injured body area above the heart level to reduce pain and swelling. You can use a soft pillow to achieve this.
Adopt a protein-rich diet, and consume a lot of vitamin C
Protein helps the body rebuild and reinforce its muscle tissues. As you already know, one of the biggest issues athletes face is a loss of muscle mass when they suffer an injury. Muscle loss increases the risk of further injury and poor healing. Basically, when you get injured, the affected area tends to experience limited movement; as a result, the area loses muscle mass. Eating high amounts of protein can help you reduce this risk and help you recover quickly.
When you resume training, maintaining a high protein intake can also increase your muscle development, helping you minimize the risk of experiencing further injury. Some of the best sources of protein are chicken, beef and fish.
On the other hand, one of the best ways of improving a fitness injury is reducing inflammation. Doing so is a great way of improving range of motion, and reducing pain. Vitamin C contains many anti-inflammatory properties that reduce inflammation, which makes it a good nutrient to consume when you suffer an injury. Some of the best sources of vitamin C are citrus fruits and vegetables.
Get a massage therapy
Massage is another effective technique that can help you heal faster and reduce muscle tension. There are several types of massage that you can access, but the most common one that is used in physiotherapy is known as deep friction massage. This technique involves an application of pressure deep into the muscle to promote healing while relieving tension in the affected area.
More precisely, when a professional uses this technique on you, they have to make sure the scar tissue is broken down to increase the movement of the muscle; in the long run, the muscle will be forced to relax, promoting the healing process and increasing the pace of recovery. To access this and other similar methods, you need to look for a licensed and experienced physiotherapist.
Visit an acupuncturist
Acupuncture is an ancient method of pain relief and body healing that is gaining a lot of popularity around the globe. This method can help you reduce the pain and increase your speed of healing when you face a fitness injury because of its effectiveness in triggering the body’s self-healing mechanism. At the moment, more and more professional sports teams are incorporating professional acupuncturists into their staff because of the effectiveness and efficiency of acupuncture in improving injuries like shin splints, bursitis, runner’s knee, joint injuries, and sprains and strains. When you decide to use this method to improve your injury, remember to look for a reputable, licensed and experienced acupuncturist.
Conclusion
Whether you are a seasoned athlete or a fitness enthusiast, suffering a fitness injury can stress you a lot. Today, you don’t have to feel that way anymore. With these tips, you can rest assured that you will recover effectively and resume your physical activities in no time.