3 Action Steps after an Injury
Experiencing an injury can be overwhelming in knowing where to start. Some injuries have a very specific event or trauma that clearly caused them, while other injuries seemingly come from nowhere or take a while to appear. It can be confusing to know exactly when you can return to certain activities from those traumatic injuries, and it can be frustrating to try to nail down exactly what’s going wrong for those injuries that slowly creep up.
Have you ever wondered about the thought process that goes through a provider’s mind when evaluating an injury? Here’s a little peak as to what’s going through my head!
Step 1: Evaluate and Assess
You only get so many insults before injury. You can either rack in your insults by doing:
TOO MUCH ALL AT ONCE: The stress you placed on your body was more than you were prepared for or could recover from. The best examples of these are returning to activities you haven’t performed in a while, or increasing the load or repetitions of activities you perform often.
TOO LITTLE FOR TOO LONG: Tissues subjected to a low load for a sustained period of time will deform permanently if not changed to reverse or relieve the load. This leads to less resistance to other applications of load. The best example of this is when a generally sedentary person sneezes and “throws their back out”.
Step 2: Calm It Down
No matter which injury category you fall in, these factors stay the same.
massage, manual therapies, cupping, scraping, dry needling, prioritizing water intake, proper nutrition, and adequate rest
Though these suggestions feel great, they don’t do a whole lot. To actually solve the problems that started the pain, you need to …
Step 3: Build It Up
We need to address the deficits, weaknesses, and habits that started the pain.
IF YOUR INJURY CAME FROM “TOO MUCH ALL AT ONCE”: If you recently upped your load, reps, mileage, etc. and you’re paying the consequences, your injury likely falls in this category. You need to scale back load or intensity of the activity that caused the injury, until your tissues or more tolerant of said activity.
IF YOUR INJURY CAME FROM “TOO LITTLE FOR TOO LONG”: If your work requires you to be in one sustained posture for a significant portion of your day, your chronic aches and pains may fall in this category. You need to do more throughout your day to counteract the chronic and sustained stress your body is subjected to.
Dealing with injuries can be complicated and scary, but they don’t have to be! Need some help with a nagging injury? We’ve got you covered.
Looking for somewhere to start? Motive offers the most comprehensive conservative care for in Norman, OK and surrounding areas. Motive is Norman’s one-stop-shop for chiropractic adjustments, physiotherapy, dry needling, cupping, scraping, and rehabilitative exercise all under the same roof.
