The chances are pretty high that getting injured from a workout or playing sport has happened to everyone at some stage of your training career and it sucks big time doesn’t it!

I know I can put my hand up and say that because of years of playing rugby and dodgy genetics with my knees my body is a bit of a train wreck… and I take care of it. Imagine what would happen otherwise!

The other day I got rammed from behind while driving. Not exactly a nice surprise but at least it was only a minor accident and no one was seriously hurt and the damage to my car was only minor.

The only injury I did pick up was a little niggle in my back. Nothing serious but enough to make me take action on it before it gets worse.

So if this happens to you or you get injured from your workout routine there’s 2 directions that you can take when this happens to you.

But the way I look at it there’s only only one real direction that you should be taking. Let’s see if you’d make the same choice.

1) You can ignore it and say “that doesn’t feel too bad I’ll just see how it goes”

or

2) You can be proactive and get treating it straight away to ensure it doesn’t develop into a long term problem.

The one thing I’ve realised as I got older is that I have to look after my body.

I can’t just keep on abusing it and punishing it without consequences like I used to back in the day.

It only took a bunch of injuries, a neck injury that stopped my rugby career and finally a double groin operation to slam that point home with a sledgehammer.

So what should you do?

Ice should always be your first choice. I always carry around a instant ice pack in case any of my clients pick up a niggle during one of my sessions.

Any trainer that doesn’t have one on board doesn’t deserve you as a client.

You can use these instant freeze packs as they only cost a couple of bucks each. Downside is they are only 1 use only but the plus side is you don’t have to keep them in a freezer.

Otherwise you can keep one in the freezer at home or use a bag of frozen peas if you need to.

The ice should be placed on the injured area for 15-20 mins.

Make sure you put the ice around something – like a paper towel or a wet tea towel.

This will prevent ice burns. Not fun. Trust me on that one! I’ve been there too. Didn’t think it would happen but it does.

Do this every 2nd hour or as often as possible for the next 72 hours – 3 days – after the injury.

This will noticeably help reduce the swelling.

You should also try and elevate your limb if possible while you are icing it.

And if you have one handy, wack on a bandage as another preventative measure especially if it is something like a twisted ankle.

If you are still experiencing grief after 2-3 days then it’s time to go and see a physio about it or go down the route of my new favourite thing – acupuncture. If you choose this option I recommend David White in Sydney.

If you want to know if acupuncture will benefit you check out one of my previous posts Is Traditional Chinese Medicine The Real Deal Or A Crock?

If you don’t want to go down that route a general doctor (GP) is not going to be much help – only a sports doctor will have an idea of what’s going on.

You want a real treatment not just “Take these pills and come and see me next week if they don’t work” – or what they are really saying to you “Take this rubbish and come back next week so I can give you more rubbish and charge you for another consultation”.

Hopefully this will help you the next time you have a strain.

Of course this does not apply for a broken bone or serious injury – you should seek medical attention straight away in those cases.

I’m only giving advice for a soft tissue injury here.

The old RICED formula still holds up.

Rest the body part – so lay off your planned exercise

Ice the injured area

Compression with a bandage

Elevate the limb if possible

Diagnosis by a professional if it is something more serious

But the big take home point is to listen to your body. You’ve only got one of them.

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