Faster Healing of Muscle Injuries

If I recall correctly, I first heard about this approach for rehabilitating muscle injuries from Dave Draper, but since then I’ve seen it pop up elsewhere as well. It immediately seemed logical, so I’ve used it ever since with good results. It works like this:

Immediately after you injure a muscle, use ice to stop the injury process if you have it available. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, applying ice to reduce inflammation is standard procedure when it comes to muscle injuries. After this initial, “acute” phase – which probably is about 1-2 weeks after the injuy occurred - you need to start to actively rehabilitate your injured muscle.

This is done by performing one or several exercises that directly works the injured area through full range of motion. Start by doing 2-3 sets of somewhere between 20-30 repetitions, using a very light weight. If you do more than one exercise, do the same for that one. Usually, this will still hurt - and that’s just fine. The pain normally becomes less intense at the end of each set. Ideally, you should apply ice to the injured area after the workout, but if you don’t have ice readily available it’s OK. However, try to apply ice to the injury at least once a day. I usually apply ice for about 15 minutes, then remove it for the same amount of time, then apply ice for 15 minutes, remove it etc, and go through this procedure 2-3 times.

Next workout, do the exactly same thing. If possible, increase the weight used by a very small increment – as small as possible. If you can’t, stay at the same weight as the day before. It’s very important not to rush things, but to gradually increase resistance in small increments, but this doesn’t have to be done every workout – it’s perfectly OK to stay at the same weight for several workouts in a row.

Try to perform this rehab workout at least every other day. This should be seen as a minimum recommendation - I have used this method with good results doing up to 6-7 rehab sessions a week, which I believe was optimal for me at that time. Listen to your body and remember that the pain should decrease towards the end of each set, and – with time – become less intense at the beginning of your rehab workout.

Some years ago I successfully used this method to rehabilitate a stubborn biceps injury. Would it have healed anyway, one might ask? Yes, I guess so, in time. But I’m convinced that using this technique decreased the time needed for the injury to heal substantially - as well as minimizing scar tissue in the muscle belly. It took about 4-5 weeks for the pain to disappear completely, and I haven’t had any problems with this area since.

Remember, the keys for success with this method a very gradual increase in resistance, full range of motion and frequent us of ice. Good luck!

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May 9, 2009 | Filed Under Injuries, Training 

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