As I had mentioned, I recently managed to bounce back from a slightly fractured knee, which could have left me out of the training I love to do for a long time. Instead, I was able to heal from the injury months ahead of what the PT told me I would and am back to running, jumping, flipping, and single-leg squatting.
Most of what many people believe about our body’s healing process is flawed. We are not machines that gradually wear out with time. A healthy body has the amazing ability to regenerate tissue and is constantly replacing damaged cells with new ones. Much of the “wearing out” of joints, ligaments, and tendons that many people associate with age and overuse is based more on flawed movement patterns than anything else.
If you have (or would like to have) an active lifestyle, there is always a chance that you’ll get hurt. Here, I offer tips that will help you get back into action fast when injuries do occur.
The stronger you are to begin with the faster you will recover from injury.
The first key to rapid healing is to take preventative measures. This means strengthening the whole body and preparing it for the variety of dynamic movements that your activity or sport demands. In addition to this, you need to make sure that strength is developed through exercises that involve moving the joints in their fullest range of motion.
Everyone (especially adults) should be dedicating a significant portion of their workout to “prehabilitative” exercises; special exercises designed to offer a protective element to your body. They are the kinds of exercises that you should be doing if you want to avoid or reduce injury. Neglect your prehab exercises and you’ll end up doing rehab exercises instead. Rehab is both more expensive and not as fun.
In a future article I will discuss the second key to rapid healing. Pssst…it involves a little known secret to handling swelling and pain. Stay tuned. In the meantime, check out this great warm-up that you can do everyday whether you’re training or not.