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Many of my clients have existing injuries and some of them have injured themselves from a little too much zeal when they commenced exercise. An injury can really put the brakes on some moving into a healthy lifestyle and often is a reason why otherwise active, sporty people stop exercising altogether. They think, “I’ll just give it a rest†but the reality is they rarely return to regular activity.

8 reasons to stay active

But it doesn’t need to be this way! You can exercise around an injury, and there are several reasons why you should:

1. Maintain appropriate blood glucose and HbA1c levels
2. Maintain a healthy weight
3. Maintain cardiovascular fitness
4. Maintain your mood — important if you are in pain!
5. Maintain overall fitness while the injured part recovers
6. Maintain the exercise habit so you don’t have to restart, or helps you form one if you haven’t started one
7. A chance to try new activities until you can return to your previous ones
8. An opportunity to start exercising at a comfortable level and build.

Eventually you will end up exercising the injured part with specific and targeted exercises from an allied health professional — it’s called rehab!

Getting started

1. Get your injury checked by your GP and then a specialist or allied health professional as per your GP’s recommendation.
2. Follow their recommendations for exercise for the injury and ask what can you do around it — and see below ‘Exercises for common injuries’.
3. Once you are out of the acute phase (up to at least six weeks), get along to your local Accredited Exercise Physiologist. They can help you build and progress your rehabilitation and exercise program to return you to your previous exercise.

Exercises for common injuries

Neck and shoulders: walking, hydrotherapy, leg weights, arm weights for the non affected shoulder, cycling

Leg: arm ergo at the gym, swimming with a pull buoy to support legs, hydrotherapy, upper limb weights, exercises for non-affected leg, Pilates or core specific exercises

Back: Ranges from a minor strain or overuse to more serious disc and nerve problems. Here are some exercises to consider, hydrotherapy, walking, cycling (on a stationary bike), Pilates or core specific exercises.

Pace it with a professional

It’s essential that you keep your injury monitored — get your allied health professional to help you determine when to progress and when to back off. Rest is important to recovery! So start gradually and listen to their advice. Ask them specifically about other exercise you can do for the rest of your body and what you need to be careful about.

Don’t let an injury derail your healthy lifestyle or prevent you from getting one. It is possible and those of us in the medical and allied health professions are here to help!

Christine Armarego ESSAM, MAppSci (Ergonomics), MAppSci (Rehab), is an Accredited Exercise Physiologist and Manager of The Glucose Club

This article was originally published in Conquest magazine published by Health Publishing Australia