What to do in the first 24hrs of an injury
How you respond to your injury within the first 24hrs sets the pace towards how quickly you can turn the injury around. Never underestimate how following these guidelines can lead you to a faster, more swift recovery. If I could give you one bit of information, it would be to keep patient. How the injury feels day one is not a representation as to how it may feel day 2, day 3, day 4. Give your body and brain time to adjust, and if following the advice below, you may just find you’ll perk up far quicker than you imagined.
Things you can do to help recover quicker:
- Stop what you’re doing! Any further movement will simply aggravate the area further, it will increase the soft tissue damage and bruising, making the injury worse.
- Ice the area instantly. Our aim is to reduce blood flow as quickly as possible to prevent further bruising into the area.
- Book into see a health professional between 3-4 days after the injury. Testing or treating an injury 24 hrs old is too early to make judgments, it can disrupt your bodies preliminary healing process and can make things worse.
Although I'd only promote you visiting me from 48-72 hrs following injury, I'm very happy to receive contact via phone or text to help guide you through the first few days. You're always very welcome to send me a picture of the site of injury as often the bruising or swelling gives me plenty of understanding as to what injury you may have experienced. Initial injuries can often feel so overwhelming for many, so it's important to have someone to check in with to keep a sunny side perspective on things!
Gravity has everything to do with why we get injured. It’s gravity that pushes us to the ground, and it’s our bodies job to push back up against it. When injured, it’s good to take gravity out of the equation or simply reduce how gravity affects us. If it’s a calf, a knee, a leg injury, raise it and place it on a pillow or pouffe in front of you. If it’s a back injury, lie down than sit up. The less we compress gravity, the less pressure we apply to our body which means the easier it is for the body to take care of business.
