{INHALE} {EXHALE} AHHH...
{INHALE} {EXHALE} AHHH...
Can I continue to train? Should I go to my Doctor? Should I see a Physio? How long will it take to heal? These are all questions which can plague you when you're on the sidelines. You are eager to get back training and are afraid you will lose all the progress you have worked so hard to attain.
The good news, is aerobic fitness typically only begins to decline to about 50% after 14 days and strength levels decrease after 21 days, resulting in what is known as "Detraining".
Don't worry too much though, once you start training again, you pre-injury fitness levels return pretty quickly. Also, if you are still in pain after 2 weeks, I would be recommending you seek further help depending on the injury sustained.
The First 48 Hours
Generally speaking, most acute injuries tend to resolve themselves with some rest and ice within a couple of days. It is important during the first 48 hours of sustaining an injury to not take NSAIDs or other anti-inflammatory medicines; Why? Because inflammation is your bodies natural response to injury and is, in actual fact, the first step in the healing process.
What now?
If after the first 48 hours, the pain has not began to resolve itself, the first question you need to ask yourself is, what was I doing when the pain first occurred? This is going to provide you with a little further information as to what might be going on and your Doctor or Physio is going to ask you this.
Was I moving or was I sedentary. If you were sedentary and it feels muscular, I recommend going to see a physio right away, skip the Doctor, simply because the Doctor will tell you:
A) Go home and rest, take 2 of these every 4 hours and check in with me in 48-72 hours
or
B) They will recommend you go see a physio in which case you'll have to pay the doctor to tell you to go see a physio (I just saved you €50-65, you're welcome).
If it's internal, the Doctor is going to be the safer bet then and I am not even going to discuss further because I don't know enough at the time of writing this to discuss internal pain around organs etc.
How do painkillers work and Should I take them?
Painkillers work by blunting the bodies response to pain by inhibiting the increasing bodies pain threshold. Let's take a look:
The horizontal line represents your pain threshold.
The red spikes indicate signals from nerve cells knowns as nociceptors.
Pain killers raise this horizontal line by blocking the production of certain chemicals meaning the nociceptors don't reach the threshold and the signal is not logged in the brain to indicate pain.
The problem? This could result in you causing further damage to the injured area if you keep working around the injury whilst taking pain killers.
Returning to Training
It has been long believed that R.I.C.E is the best protocol for managing injury.
You have probably heard of it:
R - Rest
I - Ice
C - Compress
E - Elevate
This is outdated and in more recent years, research is showing that the better approach is P.O.L.I.C.E. You can follow this procedure as follows:
P - Prevent - Through appropriate training load, technique and progression
O.L - Optimum Loading - If you can work pain free to certain range of motion or under a certain load, then you begin to build yourself back up, which is the exact process I have been speaking about on my Instagram as I return to deadlifting after dealing with nerve pain in my lower back
I - Ice the area. If you can't perform the first two steps, it's important continue to rest 15 minutes on 15 minutes off. This will reduce and promote blood flow respectively which will flush out the toxins associated with the immune systems response and promote oxygenated blood to promote recovery.
C - Compressing the injured area can provide support to the injured area, reduce inflammation and limit swelling
E - Elevating the area above the heart can reduce swelling when you are resting
Final Thoughts
In summary, preventing an injury from occurring through safe loading protocols, proper technique and appropriate recovery strategies is the best way to limit injury risk. If you have experienced an acute injury and are feeling better after a few days rest, then you can begin to gradually return to your former training levels, just don't rush it and utilise the remaining I.C.E steps of the POLICE protocol as needed.
If however, a few weeks have passed and there is still no improvement, it's time to see a Physiotherapist.
Bonus Tips
So, you're off to see the physio, here are some the things a physio is going to ask you
1. What were you doing when in the injury happened?
2. Was the pain sudden or did it come on gradually?
3. Describe the Pain (e.g. Sharp, Dull, Pulsating)
4. Rate it on a Scale of (0-10) 5 being moderate & 10 being debilitating
5. Does the pain radiate anywhere else? If so, where?
6 How long have you had the injury?
7. Is the injury exasperated or relieved by exercise/rest?
Wishing you a speedy recovery but remember, don't rush it...
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