Let’s face it: accidents happen. As much as we like to think we can go through life being invincible, the sad reality always remains. Our well-being and health is very fragile, and one accident could change things quickly.
We are susceptible to injury increasingly as we get older. Sustaining an injury as an adult can range in severity. An injury can be an irritating interruption to our daily routine, or it can be a potentially damaging occurrence that can change our lives forever.
No matter the severity, it’s important to remember that injury recovery can take time and effort. You need to put work in to make sure you can overcome certain incidents. Read on, and we’ll walk you through what you need to know about recovering from common adult injuries.
Common Adult Injuries
There are many common injuries that adults sustain over the course of their life. Especially as we age, the impact of wear and tear on our bodies can create the perfect environment for serious injuries to occur.
For example, fractures in various points in the body occur frequently in adults over the age of 50. The most common of these fractures occur in the wrist and the hip and can be quite painful to the injured person. Many of these fractures are caused by a hard impact on the body, such as a slip and fall.
Rib and pelvis fractures are less common but can be even more painful and difficult to recover from.
Injuries to the feet, like an Achilles tendon overuse, can happen when we try to remain in shape in our older age. Tennis elbow is another big one that impacts adults over forty.
It’s important to exercise and stay fit as adults, but the stress we put on our bodies can sometimes result in these types of injuries. That’s why it’s so essential to stretch and be safe while working out.
Bruising and trauma to the body without breaks is also common in adults and can be difficult to recover from. If you’ve sustained any of these injuries or others, it can be vital to take the recovery process very seriously.
Recovery Is Work (And Rest)
The more we age, the more a simple injury can still have a very negative impact on our lives. It’s easy to be young and brush off an injury, or hobble through the next few days until something heals. Kids do it all the time.
This is not the right way to approach healing as an adult. Failure to properly put work into your recovery process can actually make injuries worse. It can turn a normal situation into one with much more dire consequences.
Recovery is rest, of course, but there is work that needs to be put in to ensure you stick to your recovery regime. Adult body recovery won’t happen on its own, you need to push yourself to take care of your body and stick to your commitments.
If you have trouble doing this on your own, it might be worth checking into a short-term rehabilitation center to help manage your injuries. You can learn more about such an environment before making a decision.
How can you make a plan that will help you heal?
Rest Above All Else
Kicking back and doing nothing might sound like a great and easy thing to do. But it’s actually one of the most difficult parts of the healing process for adults to get on board with. After all, your life doesn’t slow down when you’re injured. Many adults find it hard to put things aside, or stressful to sit still for such a long period of time.
But it’s essential! Proper rest is really, at the end of the day, the only thing that will ensure a body will return to its best self. You need to keep pressure and stress off the injured part of your body. Depending on where an injury was sustained, that might mean just avoiding certain tasks, or it could mean being bed-ridden altogether. It just depends.
The more time you can spend asleep, too, will help. Sleep is the secret ingredient of recovery. The deeper in sleep you are, the more your body releases oxygen and nutrients that are essential to the rebuilding process.
Minimize Future Risk
After some period of rest, you will be able to start returning to your daily routines. It’s important in this initial step back into the water, so to speak, that you be careful with yourself.
Think about how you got injured in the first place and avoid replicating the events that led to that injury. Avoid, even when healed, putting immense pressure or stress on the area of your body that was injured. If you’re unsure if a certain activity is safe or not, get your doctor’s okay before taking action.
It’s best to start slow in whatever activities you choose to do. If you’re getting back into exercising, for example, maybe spend your first week or two doing 50% of your normal load instead of all of it.
Being easy on yourself is the best way to ensure you won’t get injured again.
Injury Recovery After an Accident
It can be hard to come back after an impact, fall, or other injury-causing events. Understanding proper injury recovery procedures can be a huge help, and the above information is here to help you.
Need more health tips, tricks, and other advice? Check out the rest of our blog for more information.
