What To Do After Getting Hurt - Part 2 Training After Injury and Proper Progressions
We covered what to do when in the acute phase of injury. That’s when the area is undergoing an acute inflammatory process. But this phase moves quickly and after a few days the joint feels stiff, achey and weak. Certain movements might be painful and you feel apprehensive to work it. Do you continue to rest it? Will returning to the gym or activity lead to reinjury? The answer is somewhere in the middle.
Your body is constantly turning over tissues. Your ligaments, tendons and muscles are continuously eliminating old cells and laying down new ones. The goal during rehab is to swing the pendulum in favor of increased tissue building compared to tissue breakdown. We do this with by proper strengthening. Avoiding load will mean the tissues continue to breakdown and have no stimulus to build back stronger. This is similar to what happens with aging in a sedentary individual. No stress to the area means no reason to recover properly. This can lead to persistent pain in the long run.
On the flip side, doing too much will increase the breakdown of the tissue and lead to overuse. When the tissue is not ready to handle the extra stress, you risk reaggravating the injury. But if we stimulate the affected joint enough it will heal quicker and stronger. We do this by applying the same concepts of progressive overload that are effective for building strength and muscle in the gym. Where do you start?
1) Isometrics
This is a type of muscle contraction where the muscle is not changing length. So the joint itself is not moving but tension is still being placed through the muscles and tendons. An example of this is pressing against a wall or holding a squat position. The lack of movement makes them the safest and least irritating movement to start. They create less damage to the muscles and tendons while building foundational strength after injury. This lays the groundwork for the next phases of loading.
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