“Can you get it up?” says my wife Natasha.
“Jesus will you let me get into the bed at least” I quickly reply.
“Come on, it needs to get up” she says.
“Hang on a second” I reply.
“Do you want a hand?” she asks.
“No I can do it myself, just let me relax” I say.
“Oh fine” I finally conceded “will you please help?”
So, she eagerly, jumps up, places 2 pillows under my foot and helps me elevate my leg.
My injury from Fridays game had left me in some discomfort and elevating my foot by myself was quite the struggle (what did you think we were doing?)
The old approach to complete rest, icing and taking anti-inflammatories is starting to be left behind and the better approaches are starting to come to the fore.
Obviously the severity of your injury should be considered and quite often a good physio may be necessary. But here are 3 tips to help treat an injury.
- Keep it elevated. Elevating the area can assist the lymphatic system and help promote a faster recovery.
- Movement- As long as nothing is broken or severely damaged (lack of stability) gentle/light movement through a comfortable range of motion can help recovery. Full inactive rest often isn’t needed.
- Support-Wearing a support or a form of compression can prevent further damage while still allowing movement to aid the healing process.