Complete rest/immobilisation of your injury should never be the solution. It varies case-to-case, however there is always a regressed version of movement one can implement that will enhance the healing process of any injury. Movement is medicine, and we want to move as much as possible without having to aggravate our injury.
Why do we want to move? Firstly, any injury will require an adequate amount of blood flow and contractions of the muscles/muscle (that is injured) would be a start. With controlled, guided, movements, we can begin to enhance the process of healing and desensitise our central nervous systems to the idea of a “threat”, which is what causes pain.
Secondly, all injuries that have occurred from overload/compensatory mechanisms/poor biomechanics are not resolved from doing absolutely nothing. Healing can come from doing absolutely nothing, however healing isn’t a fix of the faulty biomechanics underlying the cause of our injury. To fix this compensation, we need to address it for what it is – a range of motion issue? A strength deficit? A motor control issue? By first identifying our issue from a systematic and thorough examination we can then specifically work on correcting this compensation.
Complete rest will simply cause the idea of “fear-avoidance”. Fear-avoidance is where you are anticipating pain from any movements of the injured limb, which over time can chronically sensitise your perception of pain from the injured limb – which is not ideal if you are attempting to return to a sport or use that injured limb again at a high level of function. Complete rest will also act as a catalyst to a cascade of potential other injuries from the wasting (atrophy) of the muscles that have been injured or are involved with the injury. Loss in strength and muscle mass should be prevented for any injury through appropriate loading/activity of the muscles involved in the injury without compromising the health/healing process of the tissue.
NEVER. JUST. REST. You’ll feel 10x better with the right movements recommended to you by a professional.
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