Nick here again and I’d like to talk to you about recovery…
The more health conscious that we get as a nation, the more this question pops up in my clinic:
“Will I return to 100% and be able to do everything that I used to be able to do, again?”
The answer to this, I have found, is often varied. It depends entirely on what the person is like and the activities that they do.
For example, a young adult who plays football and comes in with a muscle strain has every chance of getting back to playing football to the same standard and, and fact, the aim is to return even stronger.
However an older adult who has taken part in a lot of sports throughout their life and has a degeneration problem probably won’t get back to the same level they were at in their earlier sporting years.
So what does the older, health conscious adult do you ask?…
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Most of the time in the range from 50 to 65 years older, it’s your knees that stop you from playing the sports you’ve played all your life, and often even jogging.
Why not take up swimming or cycling to take the pressure off of your joints?
It’s essential that you don’t stop your healthy lifestyle, but instead find something that you can do. Maybe not just for the health benefits, but for your own stress levels too.
I’ve actually seen this first hand from a family friend when the arthritis in his knees stopped him from playing tennis…
This caused him to be miserable as he didn’t have what he’d done for the previous 30 years on Saturdays. (His wife started dragging him along to shop with her instead!)
However… once he got out cycling and walking, his mood changed dramatically and he was like a completely different person!
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Often when you stop exercise altogether, it causes the muscles (especially in your low back) to become stiff. This then causes OTHER problems as you get older.
“I really can’t emphasize how important it is to stay active in whatever way you can!”
Find something that you enjoy and can do easily without too much pressure, even if it is at a lower intensity.
And this will keep you healthy physically as well as mentally immediately and in the long term.
AND if you think you may have overdone it on the exercise, read my free sports injury report for some useful hints:
Dr, Nick’s greatest passion is seeing his patients recover from injury and return to their activities that bring them joy.
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