Whether it’s due to an accident or even straining yourself during a workout routine, there is nothing quite as painful as experiencing a back injury; especially when it comes to finding ways to speed up the healing process. And while recovering from a back injury brings new meaning to the saying “Time heals all wounds”, the good news is that there are some things that you can do to make the healing journey more comfortable and complete for you.
If you’re looking for some effective tips that will help you as you wait for your back to heal following an injury, we have five good ones for you below:
See a professional. One of the biggest mistakes that many people make is self-diagnosing a back injury. This, more times than not, actually makes matters worse. So, when you first encounter the problem, make an appointment with your doctor. From there, they might refer you to a physical therapist or chiropractor. Just make sure to keep your appointments. This will definitely help with the recovery process.
Watch what you eat (and drink). Definitely what you eat will play a significant role in how your body heals following a back injury. For one thing, you should do your best to not eat a ton of carbs because they turn into fat and that can add more weight for your spine to have to adjust to. Also, if your doctor told you that you have some inflammation in your back, there are foods that can help to reduce it including fish, garlic and even dark chocolate and berries. Also, try and lay off of the alcohol and caffeine too. Alcohol also puts on pounds and caffeine is a diuretic; you need fluids to help with the healing process too.
Don’t smoke. If you were looking for yet another reason to quit smoking, your back injury just gave you one. Aside from all of the other hazards that smoking causes, something else that it does is retard the amount of oxygen that your body gets and your blood cells need plenty of that during this time too.
Do some low-impact exercises. As you’re beginning to feel a bit better, it’s a good idea to start getting your body acclimated to a workout routine. By this, we don’t mean that you should start doing something drastic like training for a marathon. No, actually what we mean is that you should look into getting into some low-impact exercising such as signing up for a few water aerobics classes or even taking some yoga. As a matter of fact, Healing Arts Garden is one website that sells mats that actually heat up. It can be a nice addition to your yoga routine.
Get plenty of rest. Sleep is essential when trying to heal from any kind of injury. That’s because it’s during this time that your body is able to rejuvenate itself while you’re remaining still. So, be sure to get no less than 6-8 hours of sleep, especially during this time. Over the course of a couple of days, your body will definitely thank you for it.