Getting injured is something no one wants to deal with, especially if they’re unable to work out or train as a result. Nothing is worse than to get in shape, only for it to be ruined by a sprained ankle or torn muscle. As a fitness and health professional, you will have clients who have suffered injuries from time to time. They’ll need your help to develop a plan to get them back to the gym in a way that’s safe and ensures they won’t make their injury worse, or re-injure themselves.Â
Starting to work out again after suffering an injury is one of the easiest times to get injured again. Here’s how you can help clients bounce back from injuries.
Those With Fitness and Health Training Should Prioritize Rest
When advising a client with an injury after fitness and health school, it’s important to emphasize the importance of giving one’s body an appropriate amount of time to recuperate from the injury. Going back to working out too soon can do more harm than good, so make sure you’re informing your client of the proper amount of time to wait before working out again. That timeframe will depend on the type of injury and its severity. However, throughout this recovery time, it’s still important that your client continues to stretch regularly to keep their muscles from getting too stiff. After enough time has been spent allowing the injury to heal without the added stress of exercise, you can begin advising your client on reincorporating the affected area into their exercise routine.
Clients Should Remember to Start Slow
Before advising your client to resume working out, have them start by incorporating small amounts of exercise back into their daily routine, such as walking. Clients may also be able to swim for short periods of time, as swimming is low-impact, and can help to strengthen the body. If your client does well with these activities, it could be time to help them transition to getting back into their exercise routine. However, it’s important to remember that their abilities will be very different from before their injury. The affected area will likely be weaker, and the size of the muscle will have decreased. This means that it’s important to have your client start with lighter, less technical exercises.
Don’t Forget to Make a Workout Plan
In order to ensure that your client avoids re-injuring themselves, it’s always a good idea to develop a plan for them to follow, so that they don’t put too much stress on their injury too soon. Use your fitness and health training to plan out the exercises that they’ll do, including the number of repetitions. Avoid high impact exercises and heavy weights when starting out, in favour of exercises which use resistance bands or lighter weights. Exercises that incorporate this kind of equipment will help clients to build strength and add resistance in a safe way, which is important when starting to work out after an injury.
Tell Clients to Always Listen to Their Bodies
Although you might have the perfect plan in place for your client, it’s important to remember that they should always prioritize listening to their bodies. If something hurts, they should stop immediately, and take more time to recuperate. Remember, it’s always better to spend more time recovering than suffering from another injury.
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