Returning to training after an injury, serious or not, is never easy. Between the fear of a relapse, the revision of your goals for a while and the pain that can reappear, it’s important to prepare an action plan to come back strong! In this article, we provide a brief overview of good practices for calmly combining sports practice and physical safety following an injury.

Returning to exercise: prevention is better than cure

A good warm up

After a long period of convalescence, it’s always recommended to return to practice gradually. There is no point in rushing: on the contrary, it could aggravate your injury which has just healed. We therefore advise you to take the time to warm up. 10-15 minutes should be enough, but feel free to take longer if needed. By warming up your muscles and joints well, you prepare them for impacts and condition them to the environment: temperature, humidity, altitude, etc.

Don’t rush things

By wanting to go too fast, you risk botching your technique, positioning yourself badly, carrying loads that are way too heavy or even not recovering enough between each set. Rather than relying on intensity as soon as you return to training, favor the regular frequency of short sessions. It’s always better to train less, but more often: why not try 3 to 5 small light sessions per week, rather than one big weekly session?

Include stretching at the end of each workout

Like warming up, stretching is a big injury reduction factor in sports. As we know, it’s sometimes tempting to go straight home after a workout, and throw stretching into oblivion. However, this moment of recovery is essential, and will allow you to improve, among other things, your muscle and joint flexibility, your mobility, your stability and balance, etc. By working on the optimization of all these elements, you considerably reduce your risk of injury!

Wear an orthosis if needed

HHigh-quality orthopedic devices such as orthoses are real allies in your recovery from joint injury. Both effective, comfortable and aesthetic, orthoses support and stabilize your knee, ankle, etc. and make it possible to minimize their stress. The EVO clinics specialize in the design of personalized orthoses in 3D, by scanning body parts. This technology makes it possible to offer orthopedic equipment that meets the needs of athletes as closely as possible, for optimal and safe recovery. Even after recovery, wearing such equipment is advisable: as this area of ​​your body has already suffered trauma, it may be subject to re-injury. In addition, an orthosis can be worn as a preventive measure to avoid injuries, like when you’re skiing!

Be aware of the difficulty to move forward

Connect with a health professional

Do you know what a kinesiologist is? This health professional specializes in human movement, and knows the best practices to adopt in order to preserve you. It can therefore be really interesting after an injury, to partner with a kinesiologist, for the purposes of prevention, treatment and performance. In the same way, you can opt for sessions with a physiotherapist, in order to design a suitable training program. What is the difference between these two practitioners? While kinesiology helps the patient adopt a healthy lifestyle through physical activity and movement, physiotherapy rehabilitates a part of the body that has suffered a trauma, through exercises.

Listen to the signals sent by your body

Your body is a wonderful smart machine, and able to send you the right signals when necessary. If you tend to pull too hard on the rope when you should take it easy, your body will let you know. During your training, stay tuned to your sensations and do not hesitate to rest as long as necessary. You can then resume your practice quietly, without exhausting yourself. And if the pain is still there, nothing prevents you from working other perfectly valid parts of the body. Did you hurt your arm? Work your legs or abs! An injury shouldn’t stop you from keeping moving, so have fun!

Prioritize soft and impact-free activities

If you’ve suffered from an impact injury (resulting from a knee, foot, Achilles tendon or meniscus injury), it may be a good idea to start moving gently again, by practicing low-impact activities. It could be swimming, cross-country skiing, yoga, cycling, walking or even gardening! With these practices, you don’t exert significant pressure on the joints, you keep moving and you improve your aerobic condition! You see, we have everything to gain by resuming smoothly.

Avoiding painkillers

We may be tempted to use painkillers to relieve pain. Unless you absolutely need them, per a prescription from your family doctor, try not to overuse them. According to a medical study, excessive use of painkillers can lead to many downsides: misuse of the drug, depression, drug interactions and possibly a delay in the management of the pathology. Now you know: anti-inflammatories are not mandatory!

Returning to training following an injury: what you need to remember

Returning to practice after an injury is not easy, but far from insurmountable! The key? Arm yourself with patience, do not go too fast, and surround yourself with health professionals who will accompany you in your comeback to full performance!

It should also not be forgotten that in the event of an injury, the secrets to returning to performance are:

  • an accurate diagnosis ;
  • an adapted treatment and rehabilitation;
  • respecting the healing and return to sport deadlines.