How to determine the timing of sports injury recovery training

If there is no resting pain, no edema/abnormal skin temperature at the injured site, no obvious tingling against the basic load, and joint mobility restored to more than 90% of the healthy side, low-intensity recovery training can be started. The specific progress will be adjusted based on the type of injury, basic sports, and target events.

Not long ago, I met a man who has been running horses for 5 years. The sprained ankle had just gone away and the swelling had just subsided. He felt that the pain was gone, so he went straight to the 10-kilometer interval. After running for the 3rd kilometer, he squatted on the ground in pain. A review found that the anterior talofibular ligament, which was originally only a strain, had a small tear. It took him two months to return to the track. To put it bluntly, most people fall into the trap, either because of the deadlock of "traumatizing muscles and bones for a hundred days" until the muscles atrophy, or because they are in a hurry to recover and get injured again because of their good physical fitness. In essence, they do not understand that "timing is not calculated by counting days, but measured by signals given by the body."

Nowadays, the sports circle and the medical circle have not yet fully agreed on this matter. If you go to the orthopedic department to take X-rays, the doctor will most likely ask you to lie down until the imaging shows that you are completely healed before moving. This is what everyone often calls the "absolute resting school". This idea is really not conservative. If you think about it, most of the patients treated by the orthopedics department have no sports background. Ordinary people, even middle-aged and elderly people with osteoporosis, have poor healing ability after falling and fractures. If they are allowed to move early and fail to control the force and fall again, it will be a big problem. This set of standards is applied to ordinary people with severe injuries (such as third-degree ligament rupture and comminuted fractures in the first two weeks after surgery). There is no problem at all. But if you ask a sports rehabilitation practitioner, most of them will tell you that as long as the acute phase has passed 48-72 hours and the basic indicators are met, you can start isometric training, which is the "early activity school". This logic is also tenable - people with a basic exercise background have good muscle support, and early low-intensity activation can avoid muscle damage. Atrophy and joint adhesion can actually shorten the recovery period. The child I picked up last week who had a CUBA injury had a meniscus injury. According to clinical standards, he had to lie down for three months. He lay down for three weeks and got tested. All four indicators were met. I asked him to start practicing with 30 seconds of silent squatting. He went back to play in two months and has not relapsed yet.

In fact, these two ideas are not contradictory at all, they are just applicable to different groups. If you are not sure which category you belong to, you can test it yourself at home instead of going to the hospital. Take the most common knee sprain as an example. If you lie still for 10 minutes, if there is no throbbing pain in your knee, then the resting pain will be over. ； Then put the two legs together and feel whether the temperature of the knee on the injured side is higher than that of the other side. If you press it, it will sink into a hole and not bounce back for a long time. If it is still swollen and shiny and hot to the touch, you will definitely need to rest for two more days. ； Next, stand up slowly, put your whole body weight on the injured leg, and walk slowly for 20 steps. If there is no needle-like sting and only slight soreness, then the basic load level has been passed. ； Finally, try to squat down until you reach the painful position and stop. See how much the angle differs from the unaffected side. If you can reach more than 90% of the unaffected side, you can basically start recovery training.

Of course, there are exceptions. For example, people with chronic strain have no pain at rest but pain when exerting force. Even if all four indicators are met, they cannot directly increase the intensity. They must start from 30% of the maximum load and try slowly. There are also more relaxed standards for professional athletes. After all, they have to rush for the competition, and the team doctors will monitor the whole process of functional training. Ordinary people really don’t need to take this risk. I have seen too many young fitness guys who strained their biceps and felt that the pain was gone after two weeks of rest. They just pulled a 100kg deadlift and directly ruptured the tendon. It is really not a mistake.

By the way, there is a very practical little test. If you are not sure whether you can move, first do 10 times of full range of motion of the injured area, and then wait for 10 minutes. If there is no pain or edema rebound, you can start with the lowest load movement. For example, if you have a sprained foot, do seated heel raises first, or if your knee is injured, do silent squats against the wall. Start with increasing the weight and duration from the amount you can easily complete, and then rush forward.

In the final analysis, the timing of resuming training is never a number set by others, but a signal given by your own body. Coupled with a few hard indicators, there is a high probability that there will be no problem. If you are really unsure, spend dozens of dollars to find a rehabilitation practitioner to take a look, which is much better than guessing at online strategies.