When you love exercising and keeping your body healthy in all ways, it can be frustrating to have pre existing injuries flaring up. Most people have some form of injury that has happened in their life, and if we aren’t careful with our bodies, these can come back and cause pain even years down the line.
In today’s blog, we will take a look at how to care for old injuries while continuing our fitness journey. Old injury flare-ups cause all sorts of interruptions to our lives, so prevention is the best way forward.
Let’s get started!
Finding the cause of the flare-ups
First thing’s first: you need to figure out what is causing your old injury to become inflamed. There are countless factors that could be contributing, but a few of the most common ones are:
- Over-exercising. If you don’t give your body enough rest between hard exercise sessions, this can antagonise old injuries. Ensure you are taking enough rest days and stretching before and after workouts.
- Posture. Your sitting and standing postures will affect how much pressure and weight is placed on the previously injured area. You can work on your strength and posture through weight training, yoga and making sure your seated posture is upbright.
- Other factors such as weather, sleep, overall health, stress levels and illness. Your body is an amazing machine, and any form of stress you are experiencing can cause old injuries to be affected. Ensure you are in generally good health as often as possible, as there is certainly a butterfly effect when it comes to your body’s stress levels.
Preventative measures
Once you know the cause of your injury’s inflammation, you can take preventative measures to stop this from occurring. Too much pressure on the affected area can aggravate an injury, so the number one rule for preventing reinjury is to modify your workouts to alleviate this pressure.
In addition, you can add certain practices and products into your everyday routine, such as:
- CBD products, such as those available at bloomfarmswellness.com. CBD can alleviate tension in sore muscles, acting as an anti-inflammatory agent to keep your body pain-free. We also carry several local to Tennessee and national CBD products..
- Daily yoga and Pilates. It is amazing what stretching and flexibility and mindful training can do for your body. Sitting still all day affects old injuries in a negative way by decreasing your flexibility and even causing buildup of fluids and tension. If you would like to try yoga or Pilates, come visit us here at Thrive
- Wearing supportive clothing or equipment. Supportive products such as wrist or ankle straps, professional running shoes or a back brace will further help prevent flare-ups by supporting your injury while you work out.
What to do if your pre-existing injury becomes painful
Of course, even the best preventative measures don’t always work, and some injuries can reoccur during exercise.
Ensure that you immediately stop what you are doing, and take rest. You should never continue exercising through pain – it can be a sign something is wrong.
Make sure you see a doctor or physiotherapist if the pain continues, or if not, rest the injury for seven days.