Athletes: Injury and Recovery

Anyone who has suffered from a sports injury at one time or another knows what it feels like to have restrictions placed on their activity. Nothing is worse than having to take time off from your favorite sport for an extended period of time. But if restrictions are necessary, what can be done to better prepare an athlete to return to their sport? The following steps will help you progress back into a sport while being cautious not to aggravate your injury.

Once an injury has occurred, proper care and treatment as ordered by your physician is crucial. Icing, anti-inflammatories, stretches, splints, and exercises prescribed should be carefully followed. Your injury will usually respond well enough to these types of treatment so a lengthy time off from activity is not necessary. But you can speed your recovery and return to your favorite sport by finding closely-related activities that can help you stay in shape.

For example, say a golfer has an ankle or knee injury and has been advised not to golf. Usually a physician is referring to going out and playing nine or eighteen holes. But what about their short game? It certainly wouldn't stress the area to go practice putting or some short chip shots. After all, what better time to work on green play than when there is no other choice.

Another crucial element for successful mental and physical rehabilitation is the importance of continuing to work the muscle groups used in your favorite sport. Using the same example above, the injured golfer could use this time to work on back and arm strengthening. Back exercises should focus on good posture, rotation exercises, and flexibility. Arm exercises should include forearm and rotator cuff strengthening. Visualization techniques can be used to sharpen the mental component of the game. The injured golfer can visualize using perfect swing mechanics to hit a shot straight down the fairway.

These same techniques can be used for high-speed sports as well. Nearly every activity can be broken down into specific skill patterns which can be practiced by using sport-specific drills. The most effective way for someone to develop their own sport-specific drills is by thinking about the activity, itemizing the different components needed to participate, removing components that would aggravate the injury, and then going to your physician to ask if it's all right to perform the remaining exercises.

For example, tennis is an intricate sport that someone suffering from a serious knee or ankle injury might not be able to participate in for awhile. But what other specific skill patterns could still be practiced using sport-specific drills? You could work on well-leg balancing exercises while simulating forehand and backhand swings. Practice your overhead swings with equal weight distribution between both feet while standing still. Hit returns from a ball machine while standing stationary at the net. Strengthening exercises consisting of wrist, forearm, shoulder, back rotators, and legs can also be incorporated. Just remember, drills must be done in a controlled manner to avoid further injury and should be pain free.

These techniques can be utilized in the most rigorous to the most sedentary of activities. Sports, hobbies, and even work can be simulated. People who make a conscious effort to rehabilitate themselves -- using drills and exercises that closely resemble their given activity -- respond much better than those who simply wait for time to heal their injury. You can actually use your injury or surgery as an opportunity to get yourself into the best possible shape. That way, once clearance for return to full activity has been given, you won't have down time. You are ready muscularly, cardiovascularly, and mentally to handle the demands of your favorite sport again.