What to Do to Prevent or Treat an Injury

Hi Philosophers!

If I have learned one thing, it's to listen to my body.  Right now, my body is telling me it needs a couple of days to rest.  I have been in a couple of car accidents and I must manage chronic back pain as a result.  As long as I take care of my body, I feel great and have minimal pain.  However, once in a while, muscle spasms will hit me or my back will go out.  Even so, I have still pushed myself past my limits quite a few times, and sometimes I had to suffer the consequences.  After a few re-injuries, I can now tell the difference between good sore and painful.  I haven't quite reached painful yet, but I think I would be taking a gamble if I do my planned routine today.  If any of you have ever experienced muscle spasms, then what I'm feeling is the feeling before the muscle spasms start: tightness, tension, soreness, charlie horses.  When I feel this, I know I need to focus on releasing tension instead of building muscle.  I tell you this not to whine and complain, but to teach you what to do in case you ever feel like this.

It is important to note that many of my routines include plyometrics which are high intensity and high impact.  Plyometrics are not for everyone, so if your body can't handle them then modify the exercises so they are lower impact.  If your body tells you to rest, then rest.  Missing two or three days in order to rest is better than missing a week or more of routines in order to recover from an injury. 

Today, instead of my HIIT/Tabata routine, I will be doing some deep stretching and yoga poses.  Also, to aid in muscle recovery, I will be eating bananas, pineapple, protein and will take an epsom salt bath. 

For the bath, put 3 cups of epsom salt in a hot bath and soak for at least 20 minutes.  The epsom salt will draw out the lactic acid and toxins in your muscles and the hot water will help your muscles release tension.  I will also alternate ice and heat (10 minutes each) on my sore muscles.  I'm doing all of this to prevent the pain that I know could come if I didn't take care of myself now.

For those of you who are feeling on top of the world and want a new HIIT/Tabata routine, I challenge you to do the To the Max Workout.  This routine is 26 minutes long and focuses on sculpting your abs and arms.  This is one of my favorites. :)  My old scores are at the end of the post if you want to compete!

Take care of yourself, Philosophers.

Monica