Resting is an integral part of getting better. Whether you’ve got an injury, muscle damage from exercise, or had surgery recently, treating your mind and body right during recovery will make all the difference for your continued health. Recovery is a process, and it can affect both your mental and physical health.
Limited mobility can feel isolating, discouraging, and simply painful, but there are some steps you can take to make things easier on yourself, and sometimes even speed up your recovery. When treating injuries, it’s important to understand your specific needs, so be sure to consult a doctor before committing to a recovery regimen.
Limited, Low-Impact Exercising
While physical recovery demands rest, your body still needs activity to stay fit and healthy. Regular, light stretching is a great way to start, but be sure to let your injured muscles and ligaments rest. Don’t push yourself, and if something feels wrong, give yourself a rest and listen to your body.
Healing takes time and rest, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t have any physical activity at all. Different surgeries, injuries, and accidents require different kinds of care and understanding your situation is the first step to defining your recovery program. Listen to your doctors and work with a physical therapist or personal trainer to find the plan that’s right for you.
Let Yourself Feel
Feelings of worry, discouragement, and frustration are common during recovery and nothing to be ashamed of. People will tell you to stay positive and that is a very useful tool, but ignoring your emotions doesn’t help your overall mental state. A great way to cope with the emotional stress of limited mobility is to try a different outlet, such as a new hobby. Getting excited about something you can do is an effective tool for combating the negative emotions that come with injury while allowing you to express your feelings in other ways.
Art has been shown to help people get through and move forward from traumatic events. Allowing yourself to both feel and process the complex emotions that arise from difficult and lifestyle changing situations. Not all hobbies are for every person. Don’t let a few crafting let-downs discourage you, everyone expresses themselves in different ways.
Get the Right Tools
Give yourself the best chance for a full recovery with the right healing resources. Compression socks, proper nutrition, and the right medications will be your best bet for an effective and speedy recovery. Taking care of your overall health as your body works to heal your injuries can allow your body to spend as much energy as possible on healing.
Compression socks for recovery are effective as they improve circulation and heart health while adding support to the feet, ankles, and lower legs. Compression therapy is a proven process for lowering inflammation, pain, heart strain, and reducing your risk for further injury. This is because recovery socks help the heart to pump blood, keep the leg muscles healthy, and help to reduce and prevent the swelling and inflammation that can come with injury and surgery.
Nutrition is also an integral part of any healthy lifestyle. When exercise has to be limited, nutrition becomes that much more important for speeding up recovery and providing the nutrients that your body needs to heal properly. Small meals that are high in fiber and protein are recommended along with calcium, vitamin C, and plenty of hydration.
Lastly, listen to your doctors. If they’ve prescribed certain medications, physical therapies, compression socks, or bandaging practices it’s important to stick to their recommended regimen. Your doctors are medical experts and their job is to help you get better, so be prepared, listen, and make sure to change your habits accordingly.
Helping Yourself on the Road to Recovery
Injuries and surgeries are demanding on the body as well as the mind. Physical recovery is about taking care of yourself and making sure to use the right tools, exercises, and nutrition planning to give your body the best chance at recovery. Compression socks, low-impact exercise, and a diet high in protein and fiber will help your body heal to the best of its ability.
