How to get back to training after an injury

I am going to assume that by clicking this article, you have had an injury. Quite obvious given the title. Lets take it a step further. You may have had an ongoing injury that has required ongoing treatment that has caused an ongoing headache because you are not able to get back to the gym, training or sport you love. I see this all the time!

Injuries can be physically and psychologically debilitating. Here are some tips you need to get you on the right track:

1. Understand your injury! The human body is complex to say the least. However, understanding the human body and your injury can be very simple if you have the right therapist. During my initial consultation, I spend roughly 50% of the time educating and explaining with the help of models, posters and videos. Education within treatment, in my opinion, is the backbone of the clients rehab program. If the client doesn’t understand they will not be compliant, flare ups will be a pain to manage, literally, setting them right off track. I say this all the time to my clients, “Education is by far an integral component of getting better”.
2. Rest! Now, give me a second to explain. I say this with the utmost respect to Doctors (GP’s). How many times have you heard your doctor say, “Take a break from training, take these drugs, take this injection and you’ll be alright”. I am not going to delve deeper in this massive flaw in the health care system but in my opinion, if we all stay in our lane of profession, injured clients will be managed appropriately. Depending on the type of injury (will speak about this in another article), yes, rest is important. Rehab and in particular exercise is certainly misunderstood these days. Exercise is medicine if used correctly. In other words, rest and some medication will not address your bag of impairments such as weakness, tightness, stiffness, over compensation, posture etc. Rest and meds will mask your symptoms, not fix the underlying cause of your injury which is what I love to target.
3. Physical therapy! There are hundreds, if not thousands of physios, chiros, podiatrists, exercise physiologists around Australia and around the world. Unfortunately, finding the right one for your specific “training” injury is not as easy as it seems. We live in a modern world with the latest gadgets, bells and whistles. In the physio world, we have ultrasound, TENS, laser therapy, traction devices and the list goes on. From a therapist’s perspective, it is much easier to put on a machine or ice/heat pack and wait around for 10-15mins talking about the weather and what you have on the weekend. Yes, these modalities can reduce pain, however they will NOT address the underlying issue/s. If your therapist does not educate, address and then treat “your” bag of impairments with researched based modalities, prescribe exercises and stretches to further address these impairments and then ultimately correct and demonstrate your movement patterns in the gym, on the field or wherever your issues developed, you need to change therapists.

At Gym Physio, we understand our clients desire to return to their training and exercise regime or sporting activity as soon as possible. We therefore provide one on one assessment and treatment consultations to fully understand our clients injury. With our extensive knowledge and experience, we will explain and implement an appropriate treatment plan and provide advice and guidance so that our client understands the ROOT CAUSE of their initial injury and the preventative methodologies that they can undertake to minimising the reoccurrence of their injury.

Our fundamental core policy is that all of our physiotherapists are highly skilled and lead a healthy and physically active lifestyle. This ensures that all injuries are treated by professional therapists that understand the training, exercise or sporting activities of our clients.  

As the client, it is advantageous to have some idea of what you are in for before seeing a therapist. I hope this addresses some aspects of the world of physiotherapy and injury.

If you, or anyone you know, are suffering from an injury caused by physical training, exercise or a sporting activity, call Mark on 0423 961 209. We guarantee quality and effective service.