Everyone wants to heal as quickly as possible following an injury or surgery, but that won’t happen by accident. In order to heal efficiently, you need to provide the right environment for healing to occur. But what can you do to create this perfect healing environment for your body? In today’s blog, we explore five key factors that can help ignite and expedite the healing process.
Five Ways To Create The Ideal Environment For Healing
When it comes to creating the right type of environment for your body to recover, you need to be proactive and purposeful. Your body will be working hard to mend itself behind the scenes, but you have more control in helping this process along than you may realize. Here’s a look at five factors that you should work to control in order to cultivate an ideal healing environment for your body after an injury or surgical procedure.
The following tips are general advice. For best results, connect with a medical professional who can view your condition in person and develop a personalized recovery plan.
- Short-Term Rest– Immediately after the injury or following the surgical procedure, it’s a good idea to give your body some short-term rest. Your body is working hard to address the localized trauma, and expending energy or continuing to stress certain areas of your body can end up inhibiting your recovery. Rest is not an ideal long-term recovery method, but it can allow your body to better allocate resources in the immediate aftermath of physical trauma.
- Proactive Recovery Pursuits– After a couple of days, you’ll want to transition from rest and protection to controlled and targeted stress. Movement and strength training will help your body become stronger and more flexible, and it will improve circulation throughout your body. Ideal circulation can ensure swelling subsides more quickly and nutrient-rich blood can get to the injury site, further bolstering the recovery process.
- Sleep – Sleep is an incredibly important time for your body even when you’re not working to overcome a specific injury. Sleep allows your body to focus on healing while energy isn’t being expended elsewhere. Give your body plenty of time to heal when energy demands are low by striving to get 7-9 hours of sleep each night.
- Diet – Similarly, what you put in your body can help or hinder your physical recovery after an injury or surgery. Your body needs a range of essential vitamins and nutrients to function correctly and help with the recovery process, and the easiest way to get access to these nutrients is through a healthy diet. Eat plenty of leafy greens, vitamin-packed fruits, whole grains and lean proteins while being mindful to avoid pro-inflammatory foods like sugar and carbohydrate-dense options.
- Consistency– Finally, like a number of other aspects of life, consistency is key to driving home results. Whether you’re hoping to learn Spanish, become a better drummer or make the strongest recovery possible, you need to be consistent with your efforts. It’s not going to be good enough to get good sleep a couple nights a week or do your PT exercises whenever they fit into your schedule. You need to remain consistent with your efforts and make time each day to create the ideal healing environment for your body. Again, success won’t happen by accident, so strive to become consistent with your rehab program.
For individual advice on how you can create the right type of healing environment for your specific issue, reach out to the team at OrthoRehab Specialists today at (612) 339-2041.
PT of Costa Rican National Soccer Team for 2007 World Cup in Victoria, CAN. Clinical Instructor for University of Minnesota Doctor of Physical Therapy Affiliations
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