General Wellness, Lifestyle

Healing Power: How Exercise Helps to Heal Your Injuries Faster

Healing Power: How Exercise Helps to Heal Your Injuries Faster_exercise-outside-woman

Gone are the days when an injured individual is recommended to take a few days off and rest to help the injury heal at a much faster rate. As you may know, it has been general knowledge that the body repairs and heals itself. Therefore, resting and performing fewer movements will naturally heal the injury and would not add risks to the situation.

But times have changed. There are a lot of studies in recent times that suggest the other way around. And instead of resting and minimizing movements, injured people are now asked to perform certain physical activities and exercises to ultimately heal the injury.


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This is because it has been found that exercising quickens the healing process of the body. According to David C. Nieman, Ph.D., who happens to be an author as well of several paperbacks, exercise is ultimately the “best medicine” in the world. And this is already supported by many studies and research accounts today.


Exercising: A Preventive Measure or A Healing Factor?

Many of us think that exercising is simply a preventive measure that helps each individual to become more proactive when it comes to the health aspect. This notion is true though. But, exercising is not only meant for this purpose.

It is worth noting that exercises and physical activities are also great influencers of healing processes. While the human body is capable of repairing and healing itself as reiterated by Dr. William W. Li, exercising regularly can improve and speed up the natural healing process in totality.

So, if you incur injuries or any of the like recently, you can pretty much capitalize on the power of healing that exercising can offer to you.



How Exercise Helps Heal Injuries Faster

Quite obviously, just by simply emphasizing that doing exercises regularly can speed up the healing process of an injury will not be enough for some. This is why we’ve included the underlying factors as to why it is a fact and why you should apply it to your case.

Accordingly, here are the points as to how exercising will help you heal your injuries on a much faster rate and more effective way:

1. Exercise Make You More Flexible

When you are injured, the affected muscles can become tight and inflexible. And this will naturally degrade if you put a stop on your physical activities. This is why doing exercises like stretch training, especially static stretching is most of the time recommended for post-injury rehabilitation.

Keep in mind that recovering from an injury means that you are restoring your normal movements in the areas of concern. And stretching is a great way to get your muscles moving after an injury since it does not require a lot of stress and pressure.

2. Listen to the Signs of Your Body

Doing exercise routines after incurring an injury is also a great indicator as to how your body is recovering from all the stress. When you do simple routines like stretching, and you feel a little discomfort, then it is all okay. But if you feel that you are in agony, then stop. This is because it will only make things worse for you.

In a way, exercising will help you understand your body’s state and condition. Hence, you would know when the body is already recovering by which you can improve the process through exercising.

3. Plays Powerful Role in Regulating Hormone

Your hormones are some of the essential factors that are responsible for your healing. So, it is important your hormones are well-regulated and well-balanced.

In relation to exercising, it is common knowledge already that doing appropriate exercise routines on a daily basis can naturally regulate hormones and prevent a hormonal imbalance. In fact, some of the main hormones that are directly affected by exercising are estrogen, dopamine, serotonin, and testosterone.

4. Regular Exercise Boosts Immunity

It is essential for you to note that your immune system plays a vital role in keeping you safe from all the risks of various kinds of diseases. But aside from shielding your body, along with all of the systems inside you, your immune system is one of the very responsible factors that heal you from sicknesses, illnesses, injuries, and fractures.

This is because it maintains a balance among all the immune cells. Not to mention, it promotes tissue regeneration which is important for a much faster healing process. Hence, boosting your immune system is very much important after incurring an injury. And the best way to do it is to exercise regularly.


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Healthy Diet Plays Equivalent Role as Exercise

According to Dr. James Kojian M.D., a well-known surgeon and fitness specialist, your diet and daily consumption are some of the key roles in keeping your body in its optimum state. In fact, it is as important as your daily exercises and physical routines.

When you have injuries, of course, the next best thing that your doctor will tell you is to exercise and perform physical therapies. But aside from this, complementing the exercises with the right diet can naturally speed up more the healing process.


Exercising Truly Helps, But Avoid Overtraining

With all of the points given above, you can now be certain that exercising is a great way to heal your injury at a much faster rate. But keep in mind that overdoing it will not double and triple the rate that your body can provide to heal you completely.

As per experts and physicians, doing strenuous exercises and performing too much training after incurring an injury will only negatively impact the situation. As a matter of fact, instead of helping you heal faster, it will rather deteriorate the injury and much worse the condition of your body.



Hence, when you intend to do a few exercise routines, make sure that your physician knows what you’ll be doing. Also, ensure that the steps and routines will be followed safely and accordingly. But all in all, secure yourself to give your body the time it needs to fully recover.

References

Can Exercise Accelerate Wound Healing? (2018, August 14). Retrieved from Advancedtissue.com

Exercising After an Injury: How to Come Back Safely. (n.d.). Retrieved from WebMD.com

Gaines, S. (2017, June 10). How Exercise Heals. Retrieved from
Experiencelife.com

Holloway, J. L. (2018, October 17). Harnessing the immune response to improve functional healing. Retrieved from stm.sciencemag.org

How exercise helps balance hormones. (n.d.). Retrieved from Piedmont.org

McKinnon, M., & McKinnon, M. (2017, September 27). 3 Ways Smart Exercise Can Help Heal An Injury Faster. Retrieved from Huffingtonpost.ca

Mitchell, M. (n.d.). Exercise may play a role in reducing inflammation in damaged skin tissue. Retrieved from news.illinois.edu

The Body Can Heal Itself. (2019, January 30). Retrieved from
Drwilliamli.com

Uttley, C. (2010, July 14). How Stretch Training for Triathletes Works. Retrieved from Adventure.howstuffworks.com

Viana, J. L., Kosmadakis, G. C., Watson, E. L., Bevington, A., Feehally, J., Bishop, N. C., & Smith, A. C (2014, September 01). Evidence for Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Exercise in CKD. Retrieved from jasn.asnjournals.org

Jessica Ann
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