Five Steps to Speed Up the Healing Process of an Injury
For the first few weeks returning to campus as a student-athlete, my swim team put our sweat and tears into dryland training on the Bentley soccer turf field. We practice our mobility, build muscle strength and endurance to prepare ourselves for the hard work to come at the Dana Center pool.
Towards the end of practice last week, my coach, Mary Kay Samko, decided to spice the exercises by grouping our classes into teams where we race against each other. After I sprinted to the halfway mark successfully bear crawling, I have fired up to cream everyone in the next backpedal race.
The minute she blew her whistle, I bolted backward. I can hear chanting and cheering from the other junior and senior classes sitting on the sidelines, watching me fall behind and the girls next to me inching forward. Determined to strive for first place, my legs ramped-up speed, only to gain air and collapse flat on my left wrist.
My wrist swelled to the size of Mount Olympus. The first few days, my hand was so weak that I could not put my hair up in a ponytail. Realizing this difficulty, a visit to the trainer changed my wrist sprain experience. The trainer shared valuable tips crucial for any acute injury that worked for me and will have you back up to speed in as short as a week using the RICE method.
What is RICE?
RICE is a general formula used to heal at-home acute injuries. The procedure that will be described in detail goes as follows:
There is an additional step called Medication that will elevate symptoms within the initial days from the incident.
Rest
Resting is different for every unique injury. Forms of resting include sleeping, limiting mobility in the area, or light exercise such as walking or swimming to improve strength.
Although you may be tempted to keep moving for an acute injury, I highly recommend limiting the range of motion in the hurt area for the first 24 to 48 hours from the incident.
Do not apply heavyweight in the area, or you are subject to a longer recovery process as it encourages blood flow. You can aggravate and bruise the tissues in your body too early before delving back into physical motion.
For instance, if I continue to move my wrist around within the first few days from the turf field incident, it can cause excess fluid to build up as my body continues to protect the already damaged cells.
Another suggestion is to sleep within the first few days for at least eight hours each night. When you sleep, your growth hormone levels are at the highest, which aids muscle recovery.
Ice
What is Swelling?
When your body experiences trauma, white blood cells, proteins, antibodies rush to the injury. Basically, your immune system responds to swelling and inflammation, where too much swelling can slow the healing process and limit the range of motion.
What is Ice Therapy?
Ice therapy limits the blood flow from circulating in the hurt area, reduces muscle spasms, and reduces cellular metabolism. For an acute injury, I encourage ice several times per day within the initial few days from the wound for 20-minute intervals. Few icing treatments include:
I filled a ceramic wrapped bag with ice cubes and used a light towel to bundle around the ice before applying directly to my skin. I iced my wrist for ten minutes, often moving the pack around my skin, on each side of my wrist with an ice pack the first thing in the morning, around lunchtime, and before I get ready for bed. I also iced after working out.
Heating is not advised for sprains. However, for additional injuries, heating the hurt area before working out to relieves stiffness in your muscles and joints. Heat no longer than 20-minute intervals.
Compression
Applying compression also limits the blood flow to the damaged parts of your body, which can reduce swelling. Some methods of reduction include:
I used a wrist brace to provide me with additional support to do my homework assignments as I injured my writing hand and went to sleep with it at night. Wearing a cast for the first few days also helps limit motion during the resting phase of recovery.
After those initial days, I used elastic bandages, adjusting the pressure as necessary it provided me enough compression without cutting off my circulation completely. If my wrist experienced more swelling, I tightened the applications, but I loosened it easing my wrist into more elaborate physical activities when it began to swell down.
Elevation
Elevation above the heart is more useful for leg injuries as it also reduces blood flow to the specific area. When I tore my ACL, I was advised to elevate my leg after my surgery to avoid potential blood clots from forming.
I used a soft pillow to elevate my wrist at night for bed. Propping my wrist helped prevent excess fluid build up around the injury to reduce additional swelling when I sleep.
Medication
Anti-inflammatory over the counter Medication can help alleviate pain symptoms. Some drugs that I used, such as Ibuprofen, thin the blood to reduce blood flow and help your injury from swelling less.
I recommend following the dosage guidelines and to reach out to your doctor to discuss which Medication to use for your injury as some may conflict with already prescribed medications you may or may not be taking.
Conclusion
Your body is a temple, so you must take care of it because you only get one life. Recovery is crucial because when people jump too quickly to regularity, they risk long-term effects and damages that can set them back to perform at a high level.
Speaking among the rest of Bentley University student-athletes, we strive to perform at a high level. This is why, to physically enable ourselves to pursue in our endeavors, we must learn to treat our bodies with love by giving it the extra attention it needs when we are injured, following the RICE formula.
