4 Tips for Taking Care of an Injury
This is a collaborative post.
No matter how careful you are, the chances are that you will be injured in some way at least once in your life. For some people, this is a regular occurrence – this is especially true for people who play sports. Takiing care of an injury minimises the likelihood of it getting worse but also helps you recover quickly.
However, if you’re not used to being injured, you might not have a clue how to go about taking care of an injury.
Of course, how you do this will depend on various factors, but there are a few pieces of advice that will help you with taking care of most injuries. Keep reading to learn what they are.
Take care of your wounds
Some injuries are only external, meaning the bones or muscles have been hurt. Others, however, may have external wounds. It’s important to take care of these wounds since they can easily get infected.
Your doctor at a walk-in clinic, will be able to prescribe the best treatment for your wounds. Unless it is a bad injury in which case you might need accident and emergency.
This may include cleaning it every day, covering it up, or supporting it with a bandage or splint. However, most injuries need to be kept dry the majority of the time to heal properly.
Of course, this is hard to do when you shower, which is why it’s recommended to get something like a shower shield if you have broken a bone or need a splint all the time. Get advice from your doctor if you are unsure about taking care of an injury safely when you bathe or shower.
Rest
Many people think that sleeping is the best way to heal your body, whether it’s ill or suffering from an injury.
It’s true – your body will recover much quicker if you’re not pushing it too hard all the time and giving it time to heal.
While it may be frustrating to keep still and rest all the time, it’s worth it if you want your injury to recover properly, and it can even help speed up the process.
Since you have all this time to rest whilst taking care of an injury, it’s a good idea to use it to improve your sleep patterns, as this is something most of us struggle with. Think about what you do before bed, changing little routines such as not drinking caffeine before bed and using electronics less. Taking care of an injury means lots of rest when needed.
Work on rehabilitation
It may sound strange since we just spoke about the importance of rest, but you will also need to incorporate some form of movement into your daily routine if you want to take care of your injury.
However, this should be done slowly, after you’ve rested enough and regained some strength.
It’s also important to do the right movements; otherwise, you could end up making your injury worse.
You should consider seeing a doctor or physiotherapist so that they can tell you which movements you should do. If you have sprained your ankle, you can check rehab exercises for advice. Always take a professional’s advice for taking care of an injury, as they know best the exercises you should or shouldn’t do.
Monitor the injury
It’s important to monitor the injury and note any changes. These can be positive or negative.
This way, you will know whether what you are doing to heal your injury is working or whether you need to make some changes.
Doing so will also help you figure out if it’s necessary to see a doctor. While some injuries will recover within time, others may be severe enough that you need to seek medical attention.
Be sure to look out for these signs that your injury is serious enough for you to see a doctor.
If you’re not sure if it’s necessary, rather stay on the safe side and see a doctor anyway – it can never hurt to get a professional’s opinion. Taking care of an injury will take as long as it needs to and rushing it will never help.
