How to Exercise with an Injury: Tips from a Certified Personal Trainer in Phoenix, AZ
It’s not unusual to have minor aches and pains during training and workouts. In fact, as long as the pain is not a serious injury, professional trainers often recommend just toughing it out in such situations. When you work through the small aches and pains, you’re more likely to stay on track with your training. That said, you shouldn’t hesitate to stop and assess the pained area if you have a known injury, or suspect you may have injured yourself.
Three main types of injuries
The problem that people who train run into often is diagnosing their own aches. Is it a real injury? Is it just a nagging pain? The best thing you can do is have the problem checked out by a doctor. Below are three types of injuries trainers see on a regular basis:
- Acute: Acute injuries typically occur immediately and are usually serious, such as spraining an ankle, breaking a bone or tearing a muscle. This type of injury is associated with poor nutrition, bad form when lifting, lack of proper warmups, even just being accident-prone. Avoid hard training with an acute injury.
- Sub-acute: Sub-acute injuries build up over the course of months or even years. Injuries include muscle strains and wear-and-tear injuries that get worse over time. Though frustrating, you can still train, just not at your usual intensity or performance level.
- Chronic: Chronic injuries typically devastate the joints, such as a rotator cuff injury, tendinitis and shoulder bursitis. Take extreme care with such injuries because one wrong move could land you in the operating room.
So, what’s the best course of action for exercising effectively with an injury? Below are some tips from a certified personal trainer in Phoenix, AZ.
Get adequate nutrition
Don’t overlook the importance of proper nutrition while training with an injury. Healing time varies from person to person—it can take weeks or months—but eating right and maintaining a healthy lifestyle can dramatically accelerate your recovery time. Certain foods like beets, ginger, garlic and foods high in omega-3 fatty acids have powerful anti-inflammatory properties. You can also talk to your doctor about getting some beneficial nutrients from vitamin and mineral supplements.
Always warm up
Whether you’re injured or not, you should always warm up properly before working out. Little to no warmup stretching increases your risk for injury to the already hurt muscle, as well as raise your risk of new injuries and reinjuring old problem areas.
The RICE method
Swelling around injury sites is common. Use the RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation) method on damaged tissue to reduce pain and swelling, regain motion and accelerate the healing process. Keep in mind that acute sports injuries need ice—never use heat.
Be creative
Yes, the injured joint hurts, but there are so many ways to train, work out and stay in shape while going through the healing process. Focus on protecting the injured area while finding creative ways to work muscle groups.
Everyone who trains and works out has a set of fitness goals in mind. If you want to reap the benefits of working with a personal trainer in Phoenix, AZ, then don’t wait another minute to contact Pamela Young Fitness. Let us know how we can help you!
Categorised in: Personal Trainer