Health Upp Post-Injury Healing Tips – It’s no fun to suffer a sprain, fracture, chronic pain, or any other type of physical injury. While minor injuries like shallow cuts, minor burns, and bruises are easier to manage and don’t threaten your mobility and quality of life, major injuries like compound fractures can potentially lead to diminished quality of life and prolonged disability.
The truth, however, is that both minor and major injuries can be incredibly painful— and they’re one of the easiest and quickest ways to get someone off track. According to the Barnes Firm, a construction accident lawyer in NYC, the most important step after an injury is to begin the recovery process to rehabilitate yourself so you can go back to enjoying all of the activities that you love.
You’re probably already aware of some of the treatment options doctors prescribe whenever you have sore muscles, suffer injuries, or experience chronic pain. However, it’s important to note that there are other alternative post-injury treatment options and you don’t have to limit yourself to physical therapy or the RICE method of treating physical injury. Here are some alternative treatments that can provide some relief and address common injuries:
Visit a Chiropractor
Chiropractors are healthcare professionals who are trained to diagnose, manage, and treat disorders of the neuromusculoskeletal system. Millions of people that suffer from any form of chronic pain have found great relief through chiropractic care— whose treatment concept focuses on restoring normal spinal mobility and whole-body health.
So, if you’re experiencing chronic pain, whether it’s in the elbow joint, lower back, leg, or shoulder, visiting a chiropractor can offer you the much-needed relief and improve the functioning of your body systems. A chiropractor will first conduct an examination and perform tests to diagnose your condition before recommending a treatment plan for you.
Your visit won’t be any different from a doctor’s appointment. The only difference is that the chiropractor won’t prescribe pain and anti-inflammatory medications or perform surgery. Treatment options often include spinal manipulation, muscle stimulation, sports massage for relaxation, hot and cold treatment, and exercise.
Chiropractic care can help ease back and neck pain, normalize blood pressure, minimize headaches and migraines, and improve your athletic performance. A simple consultation with a chiropractor will help you determine if you could benefit from this alternative treatment.
Yoga
Many people living with chronic conditions, suffering from sprains and strains, and recovering from surgery have found relief with yoga therapy. Even those recovering from muscle injuries turn to yoga after wrapping up their physical therapy treatment to keep their muscles thriving and body healthy.
Simply put, yoga is a mind-body therapy that uses a combination of meditation, gentle-to-intense workouts (postures), and breathing exercises to improve balance, flexibility, and overall well-being. Studies have shown that yoga therapy can improve pulmonary functions in chest trauma patients, provide relief for recurrent chronic lower back pain, and improve balance in brain injury patients.
Anyone looking to prevent re-injury, improve their sleep, heal injured back muscles, build functional strength, or speed time to recover from an injury would certainly benefit from yoga therapy.
Acupuncture
It’s not uncommon for athletes and bicyclists to suffer knee ligament and meniscus injuries, hip bursitis, iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS), and tears of hamstring and groin muscles. The demands of exercise and physical training can also take a toll on your body resulting in motor impairments, acute trauma, and chronic conditions.
Over the years, more and more Americans— and their healthcare providers— have been turning to acupuncture as an alternative way of treating a wide range of sports injuries and chronic conditions including arthritis, tendinitis, joint dysfunction, lower back pain, vertebral disc inflammation, and shoulder rotator cuff tears.
So, if you’re a weekend warrior and recreational athlete who struggles with chronic pain or recurring injuries, acupuncture might be the treatment for you. During your visit, the acupuncturist inserts hair-thin needles through your skin at strategic points of your body, redirecting the body’s natural energy (Qi) and increasing blood flow to local body tissues. This decreases pain, swelling, and inflammation, speeding up the recovery process.
Cryotherapy
You’ve probably come across spas and gyms that advertise cryotherapy or “cold treatment” and its benefits when it comes to anti-aging, improving mood, losing weight, and boosting energy levels. You may have also seen professional athletes talk about cold therapy as a new form of longevity health. Well, perhaps it’s time you signed up at a cryotherapy facility and see what this therapy has to offer.
Cryotherapy is a type of therapy that involves exposing the body to near-freezing or freezing temperatures— usually between -100 and -300 degrees Celsius— for a couple of minutes. If you’ve ever taken an ice bath or iced a swollen wrist, you’ve already done localized cryotherapy.
Tens of thousands of people suffering from chronic inflammation, migraine headaches, and muscle aches, have found this treatment to be useful. Not only can cryotherapy help relieve chronic pain and heal injured muscles, but also prevent dementia and improve symptoms of eczema. Although cryotherapy isn’t regulated by the FDA, it’s generally considered to be safe.
Cupping
Cupping therapy is one of the complementary and alternative treatments that has been used to eliminate toxins, treat musculoskeletal pain, and decrease recovery time in patients for thousands of years. In fact, cupping treatment dates back to the 4th century. Interest in this holistic therapy spiked following its use during the 2016 Olympics Games in Rio de Janeiro by American swimmer— and one of the greatest Olympians ever— Michael Phelps.
More and more professional athletes are increasingly opting for this treatment in order to improve their sports performance and reduce their recovery time after rigorous training sessions.
Cupping treatment often involves a professional placing small round cups of thick glass to a patient’s body to create suction, which enhances the circulation of “Qi” in the body. It also increases blood flow to the ‘suctioned’ area, alleviating muscle strain and promoting cell repair. Studies have shown that cupping is an effective treatment for pain management