Everyone who has trained has at some point or another obtained an injury. That’s the unfortunate way things work. We should be more careful but sometimes, the circumstances don’t work in our favor, meaning we end up being injured instead of going outside with our friends, training and becoming stronger by the day.
Given that people get injured so often, at least statistically, not every single day, of course, we should talk about coming back to running after such an unfortunate event.
Here are our thoughts on how you should approach getting back to running and other sports, after an injury.
What Type of Injury? Is It Related to the Activity?
This is the first thing that you should ask yourself. If your injury is related to the activity that you want to practice. If you fell off a bicycle and hurt your wrists, you will be in pain and your palms will be difficult to use.
However, that means that you can most likely run, given that you will be running using your legs and not your arms, even though we swing them back and forth naturally when running.
If you sprained your ankle, then you must have it checked by a professional before considering a return to an activity which puts dynamic stress on the same ankle, such as running, or worse, parkour.
How Serious Is the Injury?
Did you sprain your ankle a bit? Does it hurt only a little? Wait a couple of days, apply ice to the location and ease back into it. Did you break your ankle? In that case, you won’t be running for a while. Once your ankle heals, then you can start walking faster, once your doctor gives you the green light.
Did you hurt your muscles? Did you put strain on your muscles, such as an overstretch? If you did, then you should consider resting for a bit, you don’t want that stretch to turn into a tear. It is imperative to listen to your body. Muscle soreness is one thing, but muscle strain can be felt. It hurts really badly and in an unpleasant way.
Depending on the seriousness of the injury, you should always respect your body and give yourself time to heal, by applying cold compresses and resting. There is always the possibility to train other body parts.
Be Cautious But Keep Working Out
One muscle or extremity out of commission doesn’t mean that you can’t work on other body parts. If you cannot run, you can do push ups and pull ups. You can always find other exercises to do, even though we obviously prefer running to any other exercise.
Be smart about your injury and give yourself time to heal, that is the most important part of the process of recovery after any injury.