I injured myself: Can I keep working out like normal?

Working out while injured is something that we get asked about a lot. There is always a fine balance between too much and too little rest. If you push yourself too hard on the injury you may make it worse. On the other hand don’t do enough and it may slow the recovery process. 

When contemplating exercises while injured it’s important to balance all of the factors:

What:

Both the location and severity of the injury dictate your ability to return to exercise. While a calf injury may hold you back from running and cycling you more than likely can continue to lift weights and strengthen your upper body. 

When:

How long ago did you injure yourself? Acute injuries that happened in the last 2-3 days may require more rest than injuries from a week or two ago. 

How bad:

Rate your pain on a scale of 1-10, anything over a 5 will require some critical thinking before deciding if you should continue to exercise. 

Exercise intensity/goals:

What are your goals with your training? If you have a goal race 6 weeks out it may be worth being a little bit more aggressive in your return to sport. On the other hand, if you are training for enjoyment or a race that is further away being more cautious may be more ideal. 

Each of these components plays a role in exercise and injury recovery. Unfortunately there is no cookie cutter plan for working out while injured. Overall at Connor Chiropractic we do our best to keep our patients moving while helping decrease pain and aid in injury healing. Where possible we allow our patients to continue to exercise and provide support where needed. In some cases the exercise goals don’t outweigh the negative effectives of continuing to exercise. In these cases a relative rest period may be required.

If you’ve got an injury, new or old, reach out to one of our Chiropractors. We can help speed up your recovery and get you back to doing the things you love!