Injuries aren’t fun. This is even more so if you’re an active person. Injuries take us away from our fitness, and while sometimes they’re only minor setbacks, there are times when they’re much more serious. Sometimes injuries are so bad that we can’t even do certain physical activities any longer. When returning to your physical fitness routine after recovering from an injury, you must approach it safely and healthily. Here are a few ways to safely get back into working out after an injury.
Talk To Your Doctor
The first thing you’ll want to do is talk to your doctor. If you’ve had a more serious injury, your doctor can probably help you come up with a customized fitness regimen that will help you hit your goals without further injuring yourself. Your doctor can also tell you all of the things you should avoid doing or be weary of doing while you recover. If your injury is more minor, it can still be wise to check in with the doctor. They can at least give you some advice on how to proceed.
Start Slow
It’s easy to want to go back to doing the same exercise routine that you were doing before an injury occurred. However, doing so could put you at risk of another injury. Your body is in a weaker state at the moment due to the injury taking you out of it for some time. You must take your time building back up to where you were before the injury, especially if you’re working on the body part that was injured. Most importantly, if you start to feel pain, you should stop.
Pay Attention To Pain
Speaking of pain, it’s important that you pay attention to your body and acknowledge that you’re in pain. The worst thing you can do is ignore that you’re in pain, as you’ll likely only end up injuring yourself further. If you start to feel any type of pain, especially where you originally injured yourself, it’s vital that you stop. Take note of where the pain was, and maybe take a few days off to be safe. If the pain persists, you’ll want to go speak to your doctor.
Celebrate The Small Victories
If you’ve had a more serious injury, getting back into your fitness routine can be extremely difficult. It’s important that when you first start working out, you celebrate your victories. Pat yourself on the shoulder for getting back to it. That’s a difficult step that not everybody can make. Be sure to celebrate even the simplest of workouts you do as well. There may be some exercises that you found simple before your injury or exercises that due to your injury are far more difficult than they used to be. That’s okay. Everybody has setbacks, and what’s important is that you’re making an effort and making progress, regardless of how quickly you make it.