Tragic sportsmen’s stories share one element in common. It’s the very beginning of the story. The pain is minuscule, it’s just a pulled muscle or pain in the arm. The sportsman continues pushing, believing it’ll pass in the next few weeks.
However, as time passes, the pain becomes greater. Soon, the sportsman has to go to the hospital. There, he finds out that he damaged the arm severely.
An awesome thing is that you can avoid this scenario, and you can do it without much effort.
Faster Damage Prevention
The only thing you need to do is to assess the injury on time. Once you do it, you can do everything to prevent damage from escalating. For starters, you can visit bestbraces.com and learn about what braces can do for sports injuries.
Wearing braces, athletic tapes, special shirts, and apparel, are small steps to ensure longevity in the sport. When you see a sportsman dressed in body-tight shirts and thighs, worn under shorts, you are seeing multiple layers of protection.
Sportsmen wear it to prevent getting cold, reduce strain, and decrease damage. But, you don’t have to go to that extreme. If you notice you are having trouble bending the elbow, or that you can’t turn your wrist, you should buy braces.
These are going to help you to recover faster.
Heal Faster
Now, let’s say you are seeing symptoms of the tennis elbow. But, you ordered a brace. Since you know that now it isn’t too much of an injury, you can take preventive measures. So, what you want to do first is to take a break from the sport.
A sportsman is always playing a mind game against himself. He has to know when to stop, and when to give it all he’s got. For most people, taking a break is hard, since it leaves them with a feeling like they are cheating themselves.
Don’t make that mistake. Even if you have to take a few days off, take them, and ease your mind. You aren’t missing anything. You are going to miss a few training sessions. But, since you allowed yourself to take the time off, you are going to heal faster.
Especially if it’s a small injury. Then, the time off is all you need to restore your strength in the shortest amount of time possible.
Decrease Downtime
Back to your hurt hand. Let’s say you are going to the gym for a few months. You just went over the plateau that’s been holding you back for a few weeks. But, now the pain hinders you. It’s not too great, but it’s alarming.
Don’t let the confusion and doubt take over. You aren’t any less of a sportsman if you take the time off. When you take a few days off, and then put on a brace, you’ll able to take on a lighter training session.
You won’t be able to go at your usual pace, or even max out the sets. But, you’ll be able to work out. In another week or two, you are going to drop the brace and work out like before.
Another possibility is to keep training knowing that you are having an injury. Then, as you work out, it’s going to get worse and worse. Finally, you won’t be able to lift anymore. The pain becomes unbearable during the usual tasks, and you finally decide to visit the doctor. Then, you found out the worst.
Avoid Surgeries
The reality of surgery is very present. Remember, an injury never looks as grave as it is. Especially, when the psychology of sportsman is present. It’s natural to be competitive, to push, to grind, to give it all. And, that’s the mindset that sets off the ultimate failure.
In the tennis elbow example, there are a bunch of things that may fail. It may be the wrist, the tendons, or even the finger. In any case, you are going to have surgery. Then, you are going to be incapacitated for a new few months. First, you won’t be able to do anything, not even daily tasks such as washing the dishes.
Slowly, you’ll get back the functionality back into your arm. But, that doesn’t mean there won’t be complications.
Avoid Complications
Complications often have attached this grave image of surgery going wrong. Well, that’s more of a Doctor House kind of thing. In reality, these are mundane operations. The problem is that they force you to have a downtime. But, it’s you who wishes to work out.
Then, you are dooming yourself to have complications. You’ll be able to lift, but it’ll come at a cost. You are going to have injuries more often, there’ll be pain more often, and you’ll have to take a break more often.
Session by session, month by month, it’ll become unbearable and problematic for you to work out. Worse of all, you’ll have to visit the doctor more than you want to. That’s why you have to take breaks and use pain-elevating equipment like braces.
It’s a small sacrifice to be able to do sports in the long run.
Prolong Your Ability to do Sports
Don’t be afraid to allow yourself to do the right thing. Taking breaks from working out, and then wearing braces may look unappealing, but it’ll help you.
Embrace it. And, enjoy working out for the years to come
1 Comment
Tama po Momshie Iris thankyou for sharing po.. kaya pag nag eexercise double ingat talaga