Handling Injury in the Gym

If you have been training for any extended period of time, there is a good chance you have experienced some type of injury. Any type of injury in the weight room can be a setback. Recovery time can take anywhere from a few days to a few months to recover from. Injuries experienced are wide ranging, too. Whether you train at a commercial gym or at home, training with free weights carries risk. With that risk, you take a chance of getting injury or performing a lift incorrectly and injuring yourself.  

Proper form will drastically help to reduce the chances of injury. But sometimes an injury may present itself, through no fault of your own. The examples are extensive as to what could happen. According to a recent study at a local gym, roughly 55% of all injuries came from exercises performed in the free weight category.  

Training with free weights carry their own inherent risk, so it’s important to take the proper precautions when training in the gym. I found this out recently when I suffered a severely strained trap muscle that affected my neck mobility and movement of my upper back.  

There are times that you could also suffer from microtrauma. This is when you incur a sudden and specific injury, most likely due to an overload in training. It can cause injury to bone, ligaments, joints, tendons, and muscles. The pain may vary in severity as well. Any injury should be taken seriously. From a pinched nerve to a torn muscle, every injury is different in its own way.  

Rest 

Rest can be the best thing for any injury. This gives the body a chance to heal and repair any damaged area. If you experience swelling or inflammation, an ice application of 20 minutes repeated can reduce the swelling.  

Try getting an extra hour of sleep or be conscious of when you are sitting on the couch relaxing. This would be a perfect time to grab an ice pack for your injury. Sometimes taking a week off is better than continuing to workout and making your injury worse. 

Reduction in Work 

If you find consistent pain in an area from working out, it’s best to avoid performing those exercises for a while to help aid the recovery process. Try and use an accessory or even lighten the weight to reduce the tension of the injury. This is, of course, assuming the injury is light, like a pinched nerve or small strain.  

Rehab Your Injury 

Rehabilitation is one of the best things you can do for any injury. Rehabilitation is the act of restoring health of an injury through training and therapy. The goal is to make the area you hurt stronger and more resilient to injury. This could be accomplished through a physical therapist, chiropractor, or working with a certified strength coach. The type of rehabilitation depends on the type of injury here. 

Go See a Doctor 

If you feel that you have a serious injury, going to the doctor should be the top priority on the list. Don’t let your ego get the best of you here. This way a doctor can make a diagnosis and determine what route to go with next.  

Should you go to a medical doctor or a chiropractor? Well, that depends. It depends on you, primarily. You want to look at both, depending on the type of injury you suffered. Chiropractors may offer more deep tissue and alignment than a medical doctor can provide, but ultimately, you need to make the best decision for your own injury.

Ease Back Into It 

Once your injury is resolved, don’t look to get into a one rep max session overnight. Take your time getting back into the exercises that affect the injured area and use pain as a guide. Multi-joint exercises are the best solution so you aren’t isolating the problem. As the injury goes away, work specific isolation exercise back into your program. 

#GetStacked