Recovery from a serious injury requires more than just rest and relaxation while your body heals.

If you have suffered a sports injury, you likely will need to follow a series of logical steps–each outlined and monitored by your physician and physical therapist–to get you healed and back on the field as quickly as safely possible.

Your recovery will begin almost as soon as you are injured. During the early, or acute, phase, your focus should be on minimizing swelling. This means limiting your activities, and following the RICE formula: Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. Depending on the type and severity of your injury, treatment may also involve surgery, bracing, or casting.

Strength & Conditioning

During this period, you will want to find ways to stay in shape; it is, after all, very important to maintain overall conditioning while the injury heals. You'll need to do this while safely working around your injury, which can require some level of creativity, but certainly is possible with most injuries. For example, a runner with a leg injury can often run in water or use a stationary bicycle to maintain conditioning. Even if one leg is in a cast, the rest of the body can be exercised by performing strength-training exercises. Do not wait until your injury is healed to get back into shape.

The next phase of recovery focuses on regaining full motion and strength of the injured limb or joint. Your physician, therapist or certified athletic trainer will outline an exact plan. With most injuries, you can begin trying gentle, protective, range-of-motion exercises almost immediately after your injury, while muscle tone can be maintained with the use of electrical stimulation or simple strengthening exercises.

When strength in your injured area returns to normal, you can begin a few functional drills. This may include brisk walking, jumping rope, hopping or light jogging for lower extremity injuries; or light throwing and easy ground strokes for upper extremity injuries. Specific balance and agility exercises can bring back coordination that may have been lost in the injury.

Once you have progressed with motion, strength, endurance, and agility, and are tolerating functional drills, you may attempt higher levels of functional tests and drills that incorporate sport-specific movement patterns on the field or court. This should always be monitored by your physical therapist or certified athletic trainer.

Only when you are practicing hard without significant difficulty and the healing has progressed to the point where the likelihood of injury or harm is low, are you ready to return to play. During these final phases of recovery, you should be closely monitored and special attention should be given to adequate warm up before activity and icing afterward.

A Word of Caution

Following the rational progression of recovery lessens the chance of re-injury and assures that you will be able to perform at your best when you return to play. Too often, athletes think they are ready to return to play as soon as the limping or the swelling subsides. They may feel good, but they are probably only 70 to 75% recovered. Playing in this condition invites re-injury.

Sports medicine experts are working on ways to help athletes get as close to 100% recovery from injuries as possible, as quickly as safety allows. There is often tremendous pressure to get the athlete back as soon as possible, but the athlete's health and safety must be placed above all other concerns.

A systematic recovery plan is successfully used every day, at all levels of play–from the recreational athlete to the elite professional or Olympic athlete.

Source: American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons

The articles on this site are intended for informational purposes only, and should not be considered expert medical advice. If you have been injured, contact one of our OA physicians to create a plan for your recovery.