Rehabilitation describes the process that a person goes through to recover their full function after they have been injured.
Depending on the injury that a person sustains, the exact steps that they will take to recover will vary.
In most cases during conservative therapy or post surgically so to speak, they will include engaging in various exercises and drills and doing stretches.
Rehabilitation is as important as the treatment a patient receives following their injury. Unfortunately, it is often overlooked.
Injury rehabilitation has two key goals;
- On the one hand, it is to help the patient regain their pre-injury levels of physical stamina and physical fitness.
- At the same time, it is designed to strengthen the individual to prevent future injuries.
In most cases, a patient is advised to begin injury rehabilitation exercises as quickly as they possibly can.
This usually means right after the initial inflammatory phase (reddening, swelling, loss of function,pain) has subsided.
There are a few instances where serious injury requires a patient to work through the pain as they recover. If a person experiences serious pain while they are doing rehabilitation exercises, it is their body’s way of telling them that it is not ready for said exercise and that they need to stop or slow down.
During the recovery process, a lot of emphasis is put on restoring muscle endurance and muscle power.
Endurance is the muscle’s ability to continually work without getting tired. It is essential in most sports.
Muscle endurance is essential for the core muscles. These are the muscles that support the pelvis and spine. Core muscles are used for every single activity that a person does. If these are injured, they will have a negative impact on a person’s mobility.
Flexibility is a muscle’s ability to stretch without breaking. During the recovery process, increasing flexibility and strength should go hand-in-hand through engaging in a flexibility program in addition to other workouts the Athlete is going through. This is because as a muscle becomes longer, it can become weaker, which can lead to new injuries.
Finally, Injury rehabilitation is an essential part of recovery. It will allow an athlete regain their pre-injury strength, flexibility, and balance, and will also help them prevent reinjuring themselves in the future.
The Author is Isaac Gabriel Otuk, the CEO of Fitness Health Nutrition Sports (FHNS) company.
THE FHNS brand provides sports medicine like injury management and REHABILITATION services, injury Prevention programs and performance enhancing services to Athletes from all sports disciplines in Uganda, East Africa and around the world through its Physical and online medical Platforms.
Mail – [email protected]
Phone – +256778092815
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