The Fit Five! 5 Best Ways To Treat Your Nagging Workout Injury

Exercising is one of the best ways for a person to stay healthy, both mentally and physically. When you live in a sunny state like Arizona for example, you can even do your workouts any day outside.

There’s nothing better than feeling that rush of adrenaline and endorphins that you get from a good workout. That’s why it sucks when you’re dealing with minor aches and pains that won’t go away and start hampering your ability to keep going. Instead of a rush, you’re just in pain.

Want to get fully healed up as soon as possible so you can get back to the gym? Here are the five best ways to treat that nagging injury.

1. Step One: Relieve the Pain

If you’re feeling pain while you’re not even exercising, the first step is to get relief so you can at least be comfortable while you rest. There are a number of ways you can do this. You can alternate the application of ice and heat to the area where you have pain, with the combination helping to both reduce any swelling and to soothe or relax the muscles in the area. Something like Icy Hot patches can do the trick, or you can even try use some CBD oil or cannabis pain patches from a dispensary like Harvest in Arizona for their great pain relieving properties.

2. Step Two: Reduce Inflammation

Like we said above, if you have pain it’s a good idea to ice the painful area to reduce swelling and inflammation. Where there’s pain, there’s inflammation and you can relieve the former by reducing the latter. Aside from applying ice, you can take anti-inflammatory over the counter medication, or use a topical pain cream that includes anti-inflammation treatment. You can also visit your nearest homeopathic Doctor for some natural remedied to ease the inflammation.

3. Step Three: Stretch Your Muscles

Once your initial period of pain is gone, at least while you’re resting, it’s important to not over-tax the area that’s been nagging you so it can properly heal. However, that doesn’t mean you should be idle for too long.

You may find that some of your muscles and joints start seizing or tightening up. It’s important to stay loose and limber by doing basic stretches, or you can do something like yoga. This low-stress exercise can stretch you out without affecting your pained area. Yoga has also been shown to help treat pain.

4. Step Four: Eat Properly

If you’re serious about your workouts, you likely already know the importance of eating right to help your muscles recover and give you the energy you need to keep at it. Eating right is also important to spur your recovery from any minor injury so you can get back to full strength again. There are foods that help reduce general inflammation, but also food that can make it worse. Stick with good food sources such as from lentils, beans, chickpeas, nuts, and avocados while avoiding fast food and processed food.

5. Step Five: Get Rested

In the end, there’s nothing better for an injury than to rest it. That doesn’t mean sitting around and doing absolutely nothing, but avoid putting any strain on the part of your body that’s been hurting.

If your back is sore, avoid lifting anything heavy. If it’s your foot or legs, don’t go for a run. Let the affected area fully heal so you can get back to your regular workouts.

It always sucks to miss out on your regular workout routine because of a minor, nagging injury. But the last thing you want to do is make it worse by trying to fight through the pain. Most minor injuries can be fully healed in no time as long as you follow the proper recovery steps.