Injuries: they happen to all runners, sooner or later, no matter how carefully you run or how good your form. And they are unique to each and every person, making recovery from an injury a personal matter of rest, medication, and therapy. Each runner has his or her own particular physiology that requires custom medical treatment to get back in tip top shape.
Personal Injury Recovery
Now when I say personal injury recovery, I don't mean the type that requires a personal injury lawyer! You are recovering from damages inflicted by the road, gravity, and your own body pounding the pavement rather than something caused by negligence. Unless you are hit by a car or something, but I digress. Whatever your type of injury, following the RICE standard is a universally recommended way to get back on your feet.
R for Rest - stay off your feet as much as possible to allow your body to heal. You are constantly repairing small muscles tears and other tiny injuries incurred by everyday movement, so minimizing these allows your body's repair mechanisms to focus on the bigger injury.
I for Ice - keeping the injured area cold reduces swelling, pain, and inflammation.
C for Compression - this keeps the swelling down by physically not allowing it to swell. The volume around the injury is constricted, so it can't get any bigger.
E for Elevation - raising your injured area above your heart will also help minimize swelling. The harder blood has to work to get there, the less of it there will be!
Using RICE is the best way to recover fast from a minor injury and speed the healing of a more major one that requires medical assistance. Stay safe out there and recover quickly to put more miles on your shoes!
R for Rest - stay off your feet as much as possible to allow your body to heal. You are constantly repairing small muscles tears and other tiny injuries incurred by everyday movement, so minimizing these allows your body's repair mechanisms to focus on the bigger injury.
I for Ice - keeping the injured area cold reduces swelling, pain, and inflammation.
C for Compression - this keeps the swelling down by physically not allowing it to swell. The volume around the injury is constricted, so it can't get any bigger.
E for Elevation - raising your injured area above your heart will also help minimize swelling. The harder blood has to work to get there, the less of it there will be!
Using RICE is the best way to recover fast from a minor injury and speed the healing of a more major one that requires medical assistance. Stay safe out there and recover quickly to put more miles on your shoes!