The road to recovery isn’t always easy. More often than not, it’s a long, bumpy journey that you wish would conclude as soon as possible. Fortunately, there are many methods you can utilize to expedite the recovery process and get back to your routine. For your convenience, we highlight and explain these methods.

Be warned, however, that the methods below aren’t ‘once-over’ fixes; instead, they require diligent, concerted, and repeated effort. In essence, they’re beneficial habits that we encourage you to adopt.

Stay sharp, sleep well

As the single most effective way of recovering available, it’s essential to review your sleep quality first before moving onto the other habits in this list. If you aren’t getting a stable (and undisturbed) 7-9 hours of sleep every night, you are at risk of sleep deprivation by gradually increasing sleep debt.

While sleep-deprived, your body’s natural healing process is less efficient, leading to a slower and more drawn-out recovery. On top of this, sleep deprivation enfeebles your cognition, leading to mental fatigue and slower reaction times and self-awareness, increasing the likelihood of further injury.

Avoid injury with self-awareness

The best way to avoid long-term injury is through self-awareness. As a self-aware individual, you should pay close attention to your bodily signals, especially regarding the difference between pain and discomfort. By incorrectly differentiating between the two, you risk mistaking pain associated with a severe underlying issue with pain/discomfort that you may experience while exerting yourself. The consequence is that you may push yourself too far, accidentally injuring (or further injuring) yourself in the process.

Eat well, particularly when injured

Like a house in need of restoration, your body requires materials to be repaired. With this said, and like the house, you can’t just use any materials to rebuild — you need the right materials. Aside from the obvious like carbs, fats, and plenty of protein, it would be best to have micronutrients like vitamins and minerals from fruit and vegetables.

Micronutrients do wonders for the recovery process. They not only expedite it, they also support the cellular processes responsible for ensuring a proper recovery.

Stretch every day

Keeping yourself limber and flexible is always a great idea for not only avoiding injury, but recovering from it, too. It ensures that your muscles and tendons remain supple and healthy while preventing them from contracting and becoming too tight. For your 10-15 minute daily stretching routine, we recommend that you try something called dynamic stretching.

Unlike typical stretching where positions are held for fixed periods, dynamic stretching is movement-based, focusing on utilizing the muscles themselves to bring upon the stretch.

Go to physiotherapy, even if it hurts

Not only will physiotherapy expedite the recovery process, it will also help you regain muscle strength, flexibility, and functionality. Given that physiotherapists are trained experts in the way of injury recovery and rehabilitation, it’s safe to say that your recovery will benefit from having an expert in your corner.

Keep this in mind, especially when you may be feeling some discomfort during physiotherapy (which is perfectly normal and to be expected). Don’t stop pushing until you reach the ‘light’ at the end of the recovery ‘tunnel.’

Stay hydrated

Whether you’re recovering from an injury or not, we cannot stress this enough — drink enough water to stay hydrated. Our bodies, composed of 70% water, always lose water, primarily through sweating and waste.

It is imperative that we continuously maintain our body’s balance of water to ensure that all our internal physiological processes run as smoothly as possible. Drinking plenty of water will speed up your recovery process, help flush toxins from your body, keep joints and muscle tissue in working order, and ease feelings of soreness.

Have faith in your recovery

Did you know that prolonged stress can significantly hinder injury recovery? Not only will it deregulate your immune system, increasing the risk for infection, but it also drastically increases adrenal gland activity, leading to a buildup of cortisol. High levels of cortisol in your system result in increased blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels, which compromises your body’s ability to heal itself.

Through a combination of mindfulness of your stress triggers and stress alleviation techniques such as yoga or meditation, you’ll be able to make your recovery swift and far less unpleasant. We understand that sometimes this is easier said than done; regardless, it’s essential to stay positive. Recovering from an injury isn’t comfortable. It’s tempting to feel pessimistic about the outcome, to assume your lifestyle will be impacted permanently, that things will never be the same.

But you don’t know this for sure; you’re not a physiotherapist, after all. Take things one step at a time, focus on your recovery, look forward to being mobile again, and work on practicing the habits detailed in this article.

Try low-impact workouts

As mentioned earlier, alleviating stress is a superb way of speeding up injury recovery. An excellent method of doing this is through meditation, yoga, and other low-impact workouts. By doing any of these exercises for at least 5-10 minutes a day, you’ll be able to improve your brain health and well-being, reduce cortisol levels, and speed up your recovery.

Strengthen your bones

With enough exertion, tiny compound fractures can begin to develop in your bones, especially if they are already brittle. These compound fractures can eventually combine to form bone fractures, which result in a wide array of problems, ranging from intense pain to a lack of mobility.

While recovering from an injury, we recommend that you strengthen your bones. One of the best ways to do this is through a healthy and balanced diet. Be sure to include lots of fruits, vegetables, and protein. Furthermore, increase your intake of calcium, vitamin D, and vitamin K while avoiding low-calorie meals.

Don’t be afraid to ask for support

It’s not always comfortable to ask for help. You may worry that you’re burdening your family or friends, or that you’re a nuisance with your requests. We encourage you to drop this mindset and reach out. Your family and friends are here to help, just as you are there to help them in their times of need.

Don’t wallow in self-pity and perceived resentment; speed up your injury recovery with others’ help. Not only will your body thank you for it, but you’ll be back on your feet sooner and ready to return the favor.

Conclusion

To sum things up, developing, building on, and refining a set of beneficial habits will be sure to speed up your injury recovery and make it a much more pleasant experience. We recommend that you get 7-8 hours of sleep each night, do plenty of stretches regularly, remain well- hydrated, and improve your diet. It’s also essential to work on your stress levels through yoga, meditation, or other low-impact exercises.

Furthermore, don’t be afraid to reach out to family and friends for assistance and utilize a qualified and experienced physiotherapist’s expertise. If you’re looking for ideas for fun, low- impact exercises to speed up your recovery, then we also recommend Bobo Home. Bobo Home introduces a fun and straightforward training method specialized in balance training and injury recovery therapy.

Learn more by clicking below.