Safely Exercising After Injury
Enjoying a beautiful Florida summer bike ride - Fort Myers, Florida - August 2023.
If you’ve experienced a bad injury, you know how frustrating it can be to not be able to workout.
This is especially true when training for an event.
There is also a lot of conflicting information about what to do and when.
Let’s clear up the confusion.
In the first few days after an acute injury, the body will go through the first stage of healing, the inflammatory phase.
If you’ve had a sprain or strain in the past, you might remember that the first 3-4 days are usually the worst in terms of pain, stiffness and swelling.
To protect the injured tissue from further damage and avoid any subsequent bleeding, the advice is to avoid ‘HARM’ for 72 hours.
The acronym HARM stands for:
- Heat - Avoid any heat packs, prolonged hot showers or hot baths.
- Alcohol - The less the better - that unfortunately includes that post-game beer with your mate.
- Running - Try to avoid...
