Sports injuries can take a toll on anyone recovering from them. Not only are you dealing with a sudden change in your lifestyle, but you also have to limit the physical activity while having the patience to relax and rest as you recover.
This can be extremely frustrating for individuals with an active life and especially ones who train every day to maintain their fitness.
Losing fitness during bed rest is often one of the biggest worries of athletes. Stopping exercise suddenly can result in detraining or de-conditioning, leading to drastic changes. However, evidence shows that athletes can maintain fitness even as they recover from injuries and need to cut back on intensive routines.
The extent and nature of the injury are huge influencing factors in the rehabilitation process; this is how athletes can deal with sports injuries in terms of maintaining fitness.
Foot and Ankle Injuries
If the injury is in one foot, you can still use the other for cardio and stamina exercises that are not weight bearing. A simple chest press or bicycle crunches can help you with the movement and maintain your endurance.
Leg Injuries
When you’re unable to move the whole leg, the options available to you can be limited. Endurance exercises typically involve knee movement, which you can’t carry out with a leg or knee injury. You can still try swimming (one-legged) or set a handcycle routine that doesn’t involve leg movements which may cause pain.
Depending on the fitness level, you can also do pull-ups, ab crunches and overhead press.
Back Injuries
Back injuries can be serious in nature and often affect the overall body movement—be it legs or shoulders. Since, there are multiple types of back injuries; you’ll have to talk to your doctor about setting routines that will be productive and not pose any risks.
Some basic exercises that are possible with a back injury include lat pull-down, wall sits and other on-weight bearing cardio.
Make sure that your workouts are approved by your physician and don’t put you at risk of becoming further injured.
Physical injuries can also affect your mental health, resulting in additional health conditions, such as concentration problems, memory loss or simply the inability to carry out small tasks. In that case, cognitive restoration training can help you tremendously.
At Trainer Joe’s Fitness, you can work with expert professionals to improve your physical and cognitive decline, as you recover. Sign up for our fitness and cognitive restoration training Palm Desert to see the results, if you’re based in Palm Springs or Palm Desert.
You can also reach out to us at 760-250-6389 or send us a question here!