7 Keys to Staying Fit and Healthy During Injury Rehabilitation [FFYH Episode 5]

Summer time is so awesome with warm weather and long days. It’s stays light out until almost 9pm and that means many more hours to cycle, hike, paddle, swim, wind surf–you name it, as long as it’s light out we can just keep on playing! But engaging in more activity can sometimes mean more injuries too. If you happen to be spending some of this summer rehabbing an injury that doesn’t mean you have to let your health go downhill or lose all of your strength, stamina or flexibility.

 

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7 Keys to Staying Fit and Healthy During Injury Rehabilitation

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Summer time is so awesome with warm weather and long days. It’s stays light out until almost 9pm and that means many more hours to cycle, hike, paddle, swim, wind surf–you name it, as long as it’s light out we can just keep on playing! But engaging in more activity can sometimes mean more injuries too. If you happen to be spending some of this summer rehabbing an injury that doesn’t mean you have to let your health go downhill or lose all of your strength, stamina or flexibility.

As a Physical Therapist, people ask me this all the time, “How do the pros do it? They seem to be in surgery one week and back in the game the next!” Well, it may not be that fast but it often looks like that because their PT’s, Nutritionists and trainers are making sure that they are attending to many of the same critical keys that I’m listing here. Take a look at these 7 key areas so that you can not only expedite your recovery but also maintain your health and vigor for when you are ready to jump back into your physical activity.

1. Pay particular attention to eating a healthy and balanced diet.
   This is a particularly important time to eat super well. Your food should be fresh and organic as much as possible. If you have had surgery, your body is already burdened with and working to detoxify and eliminate the chemicals from anesthesia and subsequent pain medications. Choose fresh vegetables and increase their quantity to 3 – 5 cups per day so that your bowel is moving easily and regularly, especially if you are still on pain controlling medicines. Include all of the macronutrients in your meal: protein, healthy fat, slow release complex carbs, and non-starchy veggies. And eat as many colors of the rainbow when it comes to your fruits and veggies, that way you know you are taking in plenty of antioxidants–the compounds that keep healthy cells healthy.
2. Your diet should be anti-inflammatory.
   Your injury or surgery may already be creating swelling, your diet should not contribute further to increasing your inflammation. Make sure that you are avoiding all trans fats and keep acid producing foods like sugar, alcohol and coffee to a minimum. If you consume any red meat it should definitely be grass fed and free range. Avoid highly charred meats from the grill. Do eat well from the world of cold water fish like salmon and sardines and include walnuts and ground flax–all of these are high in antiinflammatory omega 3 fatty acids. Learn to balance your blood sugar since blood sugar spikes alone can be a cause of inflammation in the body.
3. Exercise everything else that is not injured and that does not aggravate your injury.
   This is a BIG key to why you see those professional athletes return to their competitive sport so quickly. Granted, these are highly paid professionals and there is a lot at stake when they aren’t at practice or on the playing field. But the concept is critical. If you’ve injured your knee, still do your upper body, well leg and torso workout. The idea is similar with an upper extremity injury. If you’ve injured your spine or ribcage, workout with your limbs in positions that do not aggravate your spine–that is most commonly supine which is lying on your back.
4. Continue your cardio fitness if at all possible.
   Using the same concept in #3 above, use an arm ergometer (arm bicycle), if you have injured a leg and use a stationary or recumbent bike if you’re rehabbing an arm. Water work outs with flotation belts and kick boards can be relieving to spinal problems yet maintain cardiovascular fitness. If walking isn’t aggravating to your injury, that is a simple activity that can maintain your fitness as you recover especially if you can safely add hills or stairs.
5. Work with a nutritionist for optimal supplementation during injury rehab.
   Here is another area where many of the pros know how to choose the right supplements to keep their muscle protein and metabolic energy sufficient despite being less active during injury rehab. Seek out a certified nutritionist to teach you which supplements are most important for you during your recovery and how to maintain an optimal nutrient balance. Amino acids, antioxidants, minerals and essential fatty acids are all important when healing from an injury.
6. Get plenty of rest.
   I like to call this “active rest”. I just finished talking about exercising all of your UNinjured body parts and keeping up your cardio. This is in a very wise balance with really resting not only the injured area but also the rest of you so that your energy stores can be used to heal the injured tissues. Getting enough rest also means getting sound restorative sleep. This can be particularly challenging in the early phases of rehab and your nutrition and supplementation can play a very helpful role here.
7. Engage in fun and stimulating mental activity.
   There is nothing like an injury to take you down physically and it can take you down mentally and emotionally as well if you aren’t mindful about it. It’s so important to really see this one as a homework assignment and find things to do that are truly fun, stimulating and interesting while you are on the mend. This is a good time to catch up on those good books that you’ve been wanting to get to. Comedy movies are a great tool for healing as is laughter in general with your friends and family. Staying or becoming engaged with what really interests you, subjects that you really love or have wanted to learn more about is a great way to keep your spirits up during what can be a tough time.

I hope you are injury free this summer, but in case you find yourself with some unexpected down time, remember to attend to these 7 areas so that your injury recovery is a breeze and you’ll surprise yourself when you return to your sports that you aren’t in as bad of shape as you thought you’d be. Remember to always check with your physical therapist as to your readiness to engage in some of the key areas that I outlined above as well as when it’s safe for you to return to sports.