After a serious injury, the road to recovery may feel like an uphill battle. The physical trauma that you’ve endured is more than enough to deal with, but you’ll probably find that your ordeal takes a toll on how you’re feeling psychologically. You can expect that there will be days when trying to maintain a neutral outlook proves to be very challenging. Taking decisive measures to support your recovery can help you cope with pain and improve your condition.
- Use Aromatherapy Products
Physical trauma is stressful, and acute stress can really aggravate pain associated with inflammation. It prompts your body to produce more cortisol than it normally does. Elevated cortisol levels tend to cause swelling in soft tissues, so joints and muscles that are already inflamed will feel worse.
Of course, you can’t magically will stress away. Getting stress under control when something is screaming at you might seem like an impossible feat. However, there are a lot of natural stress-relieving techniques that can mitigate the effect of stress responses brought on by excessive or protracted pain.
Aromatherapy is a simple, effective treatment that can help you relax when you’re coping with pain that doesn’t let up. Young Living Essential Oils has many popular products that are popular relaxation aids. Certain aromas trigger activity in regions of the brain that play a key role in regulating your mood. By engaging receptors in these regions with aromatic stimuli, it’s going to be easier for you to wind down when pain prevents you from resting comfortably.
By using essential oils to promote relaxation, you’ll feel more at ease during your downtime. With less anxiety and discomfort dominating your mental state, you might be able to get better quality rest. Adequate rest is crucial to your recovery because your energy levels need to be even-keeled in order for your body to carry out all of the complex cellular functions that go into recuperating from an injury.
- Fuel Your Recovery With Nutritious Food
When you’re stuck inside for the foreseeable future, you may let your dietary priorities fall to the wayside. However, your nutrition is more important than ever while you’re recuperating a major injury like a broken bone or torn ligament. Your body needs the right raw materials in order to rebuild the bone or tissue that has been damaged. If you aren’t disciplined about satisfying your nutritional needs, you’re going to be putting yourself at a considerable disadvantage in reaching your recovery goals.
Eat protein-rich foods with block chain amino acids. BCAAs have a number of key roles in cellular repair and joint function, and people often don’t get enough of them in their regular diet. Your body doesn’t store these compounds for very long, so you have made it a point to hit your requirements every day consistently. You’ll also want to ensure that you’re getting a good amount of vitamin D, calcium, and magnesium. These vitamins and minerals strengthen muscles, so they’ll support your efforts to get back in fighting shape.
- Work With a Physical Therapist
Physicians commonly prescribe physical therapy as a foundational treatment after diagnosing a patient who has sustained an orthopedic injury. Some regimens are a first course of treatment after the onset of symptoms, and others are geared towards helping patients recover after a surgery.
The work that you do with a physical therapist isn’t going to be easy, but it won’t all be torturous either. The primary goals of this treatment typically include strengthening the muscle groups that support the site of an injury, restoring your rain of motion, and promoting proper healing.
When you’re feeling sore and immobile, physical exertion of any kind might be the last thing you feel like doing. Nevertheless, it’s crucial that you’re consistent about going to your appointments. Exercises in each session often build on the ones that you’ve done in previous sessions. Therapists are trying to push your progress by pushing you a little farther as your exercises gradually get you stronger. Skipping appointments could curtail your progress. You also have to keep up with the exercises and stretches that a physical therapist assigns you to work on at home. Being diligent about your physical therapy regimen is going to maximize the results that it gets you.
Patience, work, and good self-care can help you navigate your recovery period. When you’re doing everything that you can to make progress, you can look forward to better days ahead.
