Exercising After Injury: How to Get Back on Track and Stay Safe

When you have unfortunately gotten injured, possibly from previous exercising or another reason entirely, it’s important to take sensible precautions.

In this article, we cover what to do to avoid getting re-injured or acquiring a different injury entirely when exercising.

Assess What Physical Issues You Might Have

It depends on the injury how restricted you might be with new exercising. For instance, if you previously injured a knee, pulled a tendon or overstrained a muscle, then some activities like running, stretching or lifting weights in the gym could reactivate the injury or worsen it.

Seek input from your doctor or a physiologist about what advice they have for exercises that are safe to proceed with and those to avoid. Failing that, make your own realistic assessment about what you are capable of vs exercises that cause you discomfort.

Start Slow. Keep Ego in Check

It’s a common mistake with new year exercisers, let alone people with a previous injury, to run too fast and go too far. Whatever exercise they undertake, they overdo it. This increases the likelihood of a reoccurrence of the injury with more downtime and costly healthcare required to resolve it once again.

Don’t let your ego make you push too hard. It’s sadly a failing of many men who are taught to be strong and push through pain without complaint. However, when you’ve been injured, you have to forcibly tell yourself to avoid that tendency in the first few months.

Give Walking a Try

While you may have a goal of better overall fitness or even to lose some weight, we’d recommend starting with walking. It’s a less strenuous exercise than jogging with minimal impact to the knees and other joints. Even for previous injuries to the knees, hamstring or Achilles tendon, some light and slow walking is usually going to be okay once properly healed up.

Stop If Anything is Painful

Do not push through pain when you have been injured before, especially if it’s in the same general area. Stop immediately if the pain is coming back. Rest an appropriate amount of time before beginning again.

The pain could be because scar tissue is being pulled on, but it could also be caused by something more serious too. Because it’s hard to be sure, it’s best to rest for the day or longer.

Try Swimming

If your previous injury permits it, also mix in some swimming. It’s a good full body workout where buoyancy in the water limits both impact damage and the strain on the joints and limbs.

However, do consider whether swimming will potentially cause an issue. For instance, a left calf muscle that was pulled might feel it when kicking off below the water’s surface. In which case, perhaps some light walking would be more comfortable. Test your capabilities without putting yourself in harm’s way.

Let Exercise Clothing Help You Lose Weight

Wearing a tight-fitting sauna vest forms closely around your core and abs. This type of workout apparel is made from neoprene, polyester and nylon making it breathable, but also three times warmer than other tops. It also has compression with the tighter fit, so it creates a better-looking physique even before you’ve managed to trim down to your ideal weight.

You can check these out to find a size and color to suit your physique. They run up to a US 6XL size, so there should be one to fit you. The fabric is soft and stretches well.

The choice about what exercises to undertake after an injury must be done carefully. Also, allow several days between exercising to let the body adjust to the increased level of activity too.