The fastest way to recover from sports injuries

The core solution for the fastest recovery from sports injuries is a combination of "precise braking in the acute phase of injury + staged gradient rehabilitation intervention + metabolic support that matches the injury cycle." There is no single "magic formula". All methods that ignore the type and severity of the injury and talk about "the fastest recovery" are just hooligans. I have a dozen or so friends who have suffered sports injuries of varying degrees. According to this idea, the recovery speed is generally 30%-50% faster than conventional recuperation.

Last month, I helped Akai, who often runs half-marathons with me, treat a varus sprained ankle. He ran down the steps at night and ran out of space. His ankle was so swollen that he could see purplish-blue blood oozing under the skin. I took him to the emergency room to take a X-ray to rule out an avulsion fracture. I wrapped it with an elastic bandage and ordered him not to go to the ground except when going to the toilet for the first three days. I applied ice for 15 minutes every time and every 2 hours. Don't rub it or apply safflower oil. He was still worried about me at the time, saying that his former teammate had a sprained foot and had to rub medicinal wine every day to loosen the stasis, and then went on the court in three days. As a result, the teammate later sprained his foot three times in six months, and it became a habitual sprained foot. Now he doesn't even dare to run fast. Akai followed the instructions honestly and was able to walk slowly in the ankle brace on the fourth day. He returned to jogging in two weeks, nearly a month faster than the last time he had to carry his sprained foot around.

Speaking of which, there are two factions in the sports rehabilitation circle that have been arguing fiercely about the treatment of the acute phase. One faction has adhered to the RICE principle for decades and believes that absolute rest and ice must be applied in the first 48 hours. The other faction is the POLICE principle that has become popular in recent years and advocates that light weight-bearing activities can be done after fractures are ruled out. In fact, both factions are right. It depends on how injured you are. If it is just a slight muscle strain, pain but no swelling and does not affect walking, you can do low-intensity stretching and relaxation the next day. If it is so swollen that you can't move, or even have a dent when you press it, and you still dare to hold on to "bear appropriate weight", isn't that just looking for trouble? Oh, by the way, these are all closed injuries that have not broken the skin. If it breaks and bleeds, the first thing to do is debridement and disinfection. Do not apply ice to the wound, as it is prone to infection.

My waist hurt when I was practicing CrossFit deadlifts the year before last. The pain was so painful that I couldn't stand up. I was stubborn at first, thinking that I would be fine if I was young and strong and just rested for two days, so I insisted on going to a group class. As a result, the pain lasted for almost two weeks, and I had to rely on help to even put on my socks. Later, I went to a rehabilitation specialist to assess that the quadratus lumborum muscle was slightly torn, so I was asked to wear a hard waist brace for the first three days. I lay down except when eating and going to the toilet, and did not do any bending or twisting movements. After three days, I started doing three sets of dead bug poses every day, 12 times each. No need to exert force to the point of soreness, as long as I could feel my core tightening. A week later, I added bird dog pose to practice core stability, and I returned to the original training weight in less than 20 days. If I had continued to do it, I might have suffered from lumbar protrusion.

Many people either lie down until there is no pain at all before daring to move, or they rush to the court as soon as the swelling subsides. Both of these are the culprits of slow recovery. You can think of the damaged soft tissue as a newly repaired cement road. When you step on it when it is just smoothed, there will be pits. When it is completely dry and hard and you press it hard, it will be brittle and easy to crack. You have to wait for it to be semi-dry, first step on it lightly, and then press it slowly, and finally you can pass the car. For example, if you have a sprained ankle, in the first stage, lie down and move your toes, hook your feet and stretch them, without bearing any weight. ； In the second stage, stand on a balance mat and stand on one foot to practice stability. ； The third stage is to walk fast, jog, and finally do explosive movements such as changing direction and taking off. Step by step, it will be much faster than if you rush to skip a level.

There is a lot of controversy about eating this. Some people say that if you are injured, you need to take a lot of supplements. Bone soup and black chicken soup are drank every day. Some people say that it should be light and dare not eat anything. In fact, it is also based on stages. In the acute stage (first 3-7 days), when the edema has not gone away, avoid high-sugar, fried foods, and alcohol. These things will aggravate the inflammatory reaction, make swelling more severe, and recovery will naturally be slower. You don’t need to supplement too much protein, just eat normally. ； When the edema subsides and the body enters the recovery period, eat enough 1.6-2.2g of protein per kilogram of body weight every day. For example, if you are 60 kilograms, eat 96-132g of protein, which is about 4 eggs plus 2 chicken breasts. It is much more effective than drinking ten bowls of bone soup. Oh, by the way, don’t just take ibuprofen to relieve pain. Pain is a signal from your body, telling you that you can’t do this action. If you ignore the signal and move blindly, it will only aggravate the injury. If you can’t stand the pain, don’t eat it again. Don’t chew it like candy.

In fact, I have come into contact with so many injured sports enthusiasts, and nine out of ten who are slow to recover are self-inflicted. They either do not believe in the evil and bear it, or they are too cautious to lie flat, really consider their own injuries, listen to the professionals, and don't blindly follow short videos and believe in any folk remedies that "cure sprained feet in three days", which can be more than twice as fast as yours. If the pain is severe or the movement is limited for more than 3 days, go and take a radiograph as soon as possible. Don't force yourself. You can't detect an avulsion and fracture by yourself. If you delay, you may need surgery.