The fastest way to recover from a sports injury

Accurately determine the type of injury first + strictly control inflammation in the acute phase + match functional recovery in the subacute phase/recovery phase + avoid the risk of secondary injury throughout the entire process, neither forcefully nor overly resting. Only with this combination can the speed be maximized within a safe range**.

Last week, I just helped my little brother who often plays with his sprained ankle. He was grabbing a rebound and stepped on someone else's foot. He heard a thump and tried to continue playing. When I held him down, his ankle was already bulging. He insisted on rubbing it with the safflower oil brought by his teammate. He said that it healed quickly after rubbing it. I urgently found an ice pack to apply on him, and put an elastic bandage on him to keep him from falling. I went to take a X-ray that day to confirm that it was a first-degree ligament injury, and there was no fracture. Originally, according to his messy method, it would take at least a month to delay running and jumping, and he strictly followed the recovery plan. He was back to play half-time in two weeks, and there were no sequelae in the whole process.

It’s funny to mention this. Nowadays, there are two extreme opinions about injury recovery: either the older generation says, “It takes a hundred days to break your muscles and bones, and you have to lie down enough before you can move,” or the online fitness bloggers say, “The sooner you move, the faster your recovery will be. If you lie down for a long time, your muscles will become useless.” Both sides are reasonable, but they are only half right. It's like patching a tire. When it's first punctured, you have to force it open, and the hole will only get bigger. If you park the car in the garage and don't dare to move it until the tire sealant dries, the tire will lose air after being left there for a long time. I once met an aunt who had minimally invasive surgery on her knee meniscus. The doctor said she could walk slowly in three days, but she had to lie down for three months. When she finally came for rehabilitation, her thigh muscles atrophied, and it took her two months to return to normal walking. In fact, she was twice as slow as those who moved early.

The first 72 hours after the injury is the acute stage. Regardless of what others say, do three things first: don’t move blindly, elevate the injured position, and apply ice for 15 to 20 minutes each time, with an interval of more than two hours. Don’t freeze the skin for half an hour and cause frostbite. I once had an elder brother who ran a marathon. He suffered from severe pain due to iliotibial band friction syndrome. He iced himself at home for 40 minutes. When he came in, his skin was purple. It was originally just aseptic inflammation and almost led to frostbite. Oh, by the way, there is a group of foreign rehabilitation practitioners who do not recommend ice application in the acute phase, saying that it will inhibit local blood circulation and slow down recovery. I have been exposed to many cases of this. It is usually for situations where there is no obvious swelling and only mild muscle strain. If the swelling is like a sourdough bun, listen to me and ice it first. The conclusions of evidence-based medicine for so many years will not deceive you.

After 72 hours, when most of the swelling has subsided and the excruciating pain is gone, stop lying on the bed. This is the stage of "the sooner you move, the faster you will get better." For example, if you have a sprained foot, slowly do the hooking and stretching of the foot, and don’t shake the ankle too hard. ； If you have a strained muscle, you should do isometric contractions, which means that the muscles exert force but do not move the joints. I used to miss my waist while doing deadlifts. The pain was so painful that it was difficult to turn over. The next day, I started lying down doing dead bug poses and abdominal breathing to activate the core. I originally thought I would lie down for a week, but I went back to practice light weights in three days. Even the coach thought it was faster. The movement at this stage is not for you to make mistakes. It is to put a little stress on the injured area along with the recovery rhythm and stimulate tissue growth. If you lie down all the time, the muscle strength will decrease quickly, and the scars on the injured area will not be elastic, making it easy to be injured again.

Once normal walking and daily activities are no longer painful, don’t rush back to the previous intensity of exercise. Many people fall into this trap. I once had a golfer who had a sprained foot that stopped hurting after two weeks, so he went straight back to playing the whole game, but sprained it again when he jumped up and landed. This time, it was a third-degree ligament tear. He had surgery and rested for three months. The injury that should have healed in two weeks was delayed for less than half a year. The most important thing to do at this stage is to build up strength and practice stability. For example, if you have a sprained foot, practice standing on one foot more, and if you have a knee injury, practice static squats to make up for the weak points, otherwise you will still be injured in the same place next time.

In fact, after all is said and done, the essence of "fastest" is "no rework". Don't mess around just to make it two days faster, and end up delaying it for several months. That is really slow. If you are really not sure whether your injury is serious, go directly to a regular sports rehabilitation department or orthopedics department. Spending dozens of dollars in registration fees will be more useful than searching for ten folk remedies online. After all, everyone's injury type and physical fitness are different. Someone else's fastest method may be the slowest method for you.