You can’t live your entire life without getting injured. We were made to move, and when we put wear and tear on our bodies by demanding too much from it, overuse injuries occur. Then you have traumatic injuries which are no ones’ fault.
How you respond to being injured can play a major role in how fast you recover from an injury and how soon you can return to your normal life. By performing injury rehab, you are giving your body a chance to catch up.
Injury rehab is allowing your body to heal and regain strength, mobility and function it has lost due to being injured. It includes a variety of different things, including specific interventions and exercises your sports medicine doctor and physical therapist prescribes.
Below is a quick overview of the steps you should take to recover from an injury and tips from Injury Doctor Nassau County to help you prevent future injuries.
Step 1: Act Quickly
The first thing you do after injuring yourself will play a part in how long your injury takes to heal. Be careful not to further injure yourself any further and take it easy on the injured body part.
Step 2: Schedule an Appointment with Your Sports Medicine Doctor
It’s best to make an appointment with your sports medicine physician as soon as possible. Not only will they determine what is wrong, but they can also provide you with the best course of treatment, and give you an estimated recovery time.
Step 3: Ice the Injury
Cold therapy is very important when helping an injury heal. Ice the injury. This will help reduce swelling and begin the healing process.
Step 4: Compression and Elevation
Next, wrap the injury with compression, such as a bandage. Do not wrap the injury too tightly, as you don’t want to cut off circulation. Once you have the bandage on, keep the injured area elevated above the heart to help reduce swelling.
Step 5: Apply Immobilization Devices
You may require a brace or splint to keep the injured area from moving so it can heal.
Typically braces can be removed and are used for less serious injuries. A splint remains on your body and is often used for serious injuries like fractures, sprains and dislocations. You will need to be fitted for these by a medical professional.
STEP 6: Initiate Physical Therapy
After your rest period has passed it is time to begin physical therapy. Active treatment has begun and this is when you’ll really start to see improvements.
Your physical therapy therapist will collaborate with you to create an appropriate treatment plan specific to the injury you have. The plan will incorporate stretch and exercises you can try to recover flexibility, strength and flexibility. They understand the body from inside out, and will ensure that you are receiving the right treatment plan to ensure optimal healing.
Physical therapy Nassau County for injuries can also involve modalities such as heating/cold therapy, electrical stimulation ultrasound, manual therapy techniques like joint mobilization or massage. These techniques are employed to reduce inflammation and pain and also help in the healing process of the injured tissues.
Step 7: Strengthening Exercises
In addition to exercising in physical therapy, it is important to keep doing the exercises at home. The exercises designed for strength specifically target certain muscles or parts in the body which are affected due to injuries. If you have injured your knee, it is possible to exercise to target your hamstrings, quadriceps, and the calf muscles.
In addition to focusing on particular muscle groups, these exercises also include exercises that will help increase the range of motion in your joint. It is important to complete your exercises over a complete range of motion without pain.
Step 8: Balance/ Stabilization Exercises
Balance and stabilization exercises may also be incorporated into your routine depending on your injury. These exercises can aid in improving proprioception (your body’s ability to sense movement in space), joint stability, and help prevent re-injury.
These exercises typically include single-leg movements or the use of tools that simulate unstable surfaces.
Suffered an injury from sports or a car accident? Let the orthopedic specialists and physical therapists at Quan Medical PLLC take care of you. At Quan Medical PLLC we have advanced technology to assess your symptoms and condition right here in Queens County. Our orthopedic specialists will design a treatment plan specific to your car accident injury.
