3 Steps to Recovering From Your Injury

repair. Restore. REBUILD.

Injuries happen.  However, if you follow the three principles of repair + Restore + REBUILD and look after your injury properly and promptly, you will have the best possible outcome. 

repair.

First you have to let your body start the repair process where it sends healing and repair cells to the area.  In this stage it is key to incorporate ACTIVE REST – which is resting from painful exercise or a movement.  The rule of thumb is – don’t do anything that reproduces your pain for the initial two or three days.  After that, you need to get it moving or other problems will develop.

Ice is preferred for the initial two or three days post-injury. Apply ice for 20 minutes each two to three hours for the first few days until the “heat” comes out of the injury. Ice should also help to reduce your pain and swelling in traumatic soft tissue injuries, such as ligament sprains, muscle tears or bruising.   Heat is not good to use at this stage as it promotes more swelling and bleeding. 

Restore.

When to Start Treatment?

In most cases, “the early bird gets the worm”.  Researchers have found that the intervention of physiotherapy treatment for acute soft tissue injuries within a few days has many benefits.

Prompt Treatment Benefits include:

• Pain + swelling relief with joint mobility + soft tissue techniques
• Improved/optimized scar tissue quality to avoid future complications 
• Faster return to normal day to day activities or work
• Reduces risk of re-injury and further damage to area
• Immediate implementation of individually prescribed exercises and techniques to avoid loss of muscle strength and normal function
• Correction of biomechanical faults that may have predisposed you the injury in the first place

REBUILD.

Now that the pain and swelling as subsided, the crucial work needs to begin! The second phase of physiotherapy focuses on a specific, individualized treatment plan, exercises and education to ensure that you don’t injure it again! 

What if You do Nothing?

Research tells us that injuries left untreated do take longer to heal and have lingering pain. They are also more likely to recur and leave you with:

• abnormal scar tissue formation
• joint stiffness
• muscle weakness
• recurrent injury and further damage

The sooner you get on top of looking after your injury the better your outcome. Check with your physio today about what the best plan for you!