Exercising With Injuries
In pain? Have an injury? How do you continue to exercise whilst not feeling 100%?
Injuries occur for many reasons; we may have over trained, worked in a sedentary job that involves a lot of sitting at a computer for long periods of time, had a recent illness, the list goes on. However, this should never stop you from partaking in exercise, you may just need to adapt how you exercise for the short term. There are many positives for active recovery, both mentally and physically. You just need to look at why/how the injury occurred, look at having treatment to aid in recovery and healing, and adapt your exercise to support healing.
As an Osteopath, I see many different injuries from neck and shoulder stiffness and pain, to restricted movement in the lower back, hips and pelvis, knees, feet, elbows, and more. But this does not mean that we must stop exercising. Our bodies heal better if we keep moving; we are designed to move! This movement also helps to keep blood flowing to help the muscles and ligaments, allow joints to heal, and keep lymph movement to aid us to be well and healthy.
So how can you make sure that you are not making the injury worse?
Seeing a registered healthcare professional – an Osteopath, a Chiropractor or Physiotherapist can assess and diagnose the injury as well as being able to treat to aid in healing. They can also advise what movement and exercise is appropriate, and what to avoid. They can give you an idea of how long recovery will take, and how to get support from exercise specialists to aid you in getting back to full fitness.
Osteopathy is the science of assessing the body where there is pain, stiffness, or restricted movement by looking at how the body moves and using our hands to feel where there are restrictions in the joints. The underlying philosophy of Osteopathy is the link between the structure of the body, the function of the body, and the flow of blood. It is a hand—on therapy to assist the body to move more easily where there are restrictions; this aids the body to be in a state of healing. Consultation and treatment involve a full medical history and information about where there is pain or restriction, assessing how the body is moving, both by sight and by touch, then treating where assistance is needed from the neck to the sacrum, and any peripheral joins if necessary. Treatment involves soft tissue mobilisation, joint mobilisation, and manipulations.
By keeping ourselves fit and healthy, we can support our bodies to be strong and mobile which can help to keep injuries at bay. However, injuries can still occur, but we recover quicker and with less long-term effects if we are initially fit and healthy. Our bodies are in a better state to repair and will have better muscle memory to be back to full strength and mobility post injury. By keeping exercise levels going during an injury whilst only doing those that are recommended, the recovery will be quicker and support better physical and mental health.
Suzanne Jarrett
Osteopath Hove Brighton
www.osteopathhovebrighton.co.uk
Instagram: @suzanne_jarrett
