Getting sidelined because of a common injury such as tweaking your back, twisting your knee, or pulling a calf muscle can be frustrating, but giving yourself time to heal is very important.
It usually takes two to four weeks, even though you might feel better after one week, and that’s dangerous according to the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
If you get back to running, or your baseball league before the body has gone through the entire healing process, your risk of prolonging the injury increases and you put yourself at risk of chronic problems. A two-to-four-week problem can suddenly become a three-to-six-month problem. You also risk injuring other parts of your body. For example, you’re more prone to hurt your left knee when you’re nursing your right one.
Here are a few signs that let you know when and how to get back into your routine:
•Time does heal – Rest for the recommended time, no matter how restless you get. If you’re working with a physical therapist, make sure you talk about what activities you can do. Health professionals recommend using acetaminophen, compression, and ice for an injury.
• Pain-free first – Pain-free range of motion and pain-free sport-specific action need to be achieved before you dive back into your fitness routine, according to the Mount Sinai Department of Rehabilitation Medicine. If you can’t run without feeling a little knot of pain in your knee after spraining it, you’re not ready yet.
• Slow and steady – Health care professionals recommend cutting your activity in half. For example, if you were running four km before, you’d cut back to two, and then increase your intensity and duration by 10% every 10 days.
You can’t rush the body to heal itself—try as you might. If you go through rehab once the right way, you will be more likely to achieve your full strength level again and avoid a recurring problem.
