How to stop deconditioning when you're injured?

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As you know being injured means that you lose all the conditioning that you worked so hard for in the first place....FRUSTRATING!


MUSCLE STRENGTH DECREASES BY 2-6% FOR THE FIRST 8 DAYS OF IMMOBILISATION (Muller,1970).

So what can you do to help minimise this effect?


Well, here is what the research says:


What to avoid?


Rest!

It used to be R.I.C.E. or P.R.I.C.E. or P.R.I.C.E.M. but rest doesn't help recovery. The more recent accronym is:

P.O.L.I.C.E
which stands for:

Protect, Optimal Loading, Ice, Compression, Elevation.


It's obvious that rest will accelerate deconditioning but it also affects healing too. Malliaras et al (2013) found that tendons heal quicker when progressively loaded as opposed to rested.

Anti-inflammatory drugs!

The jury is out on this! Remember inflammation is the only thing that heals you so you really need it! The question is that in the first 72 hours do some things over inflame and inhibit you unnecessarily, well yes, so if needed, use it initially but don't use it beyond this if you can help it. This is supported by Abate et al (2009) who found that they may be useful initially but are ineffective later in tendon injury.

What about other structures?
Ilkhanipour Rooney et al (2016) concluded that individuals should be advised on the risk of decreased muscle hypertrophy when consuming ibuprofen.


So that's what not to do, what about what to do to  help deconditioning?


Massage?

There is an accelerated recovery of muscle function from massage-based therapies (Best et al 2013).

Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES)?

Neuromuscular electrical stimulation training was effective in increasing muscle strength of the vastus medialis (Canning & Grenier 2014).

Electrical stimulation of the quads supports the regeneration process & results in a provable stronger reduction of the atrophy (Mucha 2004).

Imagery?

Mental imagery training, reduces muscle strength loss during immobilisation (Clark et al 2014).

Diet?

Protein intake during a period of illness or injury reduces muscle disuse atrophy (Wall & Van Loon 2013).


In conclusion:

In the first 72 hours use P.O.L.I.C.E, maybe use anti inflammatory drugs if you need to. After this stop anti inflammatory drugs, have a massage, use NMES, mental imagery of training and up your protein intake. Now i'm not saying that this list is definitive and exhaustive at all but this is some research findings on the subject. Remember everyone is different and the same is true of each injury so you can't apply hard fast rules but hopefully this will give you a guide.


So if you would like to book in for an assessment then contact me via any of the below methods:


Telephone: 01782 771861
Mobile: 07866195914


Comments

  1. SantaMedical1 July 2019 at 03:06

    Santamedical Rechargeable Tens Unit Electronic Pulse Massager is a compact, portable, micro-computer-controlled device. It can be used on many areas of the body, including the arms, neck and shoulders, back, low back, legs, feet, joints etc.

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