A well-designed injury and rehabilitation gym can help injured people get back to their fitness goals and improve their quality of life. Creating the right environment for rehabilitation, using the right equipment and keeping participants engaged is key to success.
Whether you’re an injury rehabilitation coach, physical therapist or exercise professional, understanding the science behind injury and recovery is essential to improving your clients’ outcomes. The length of time it takes to recover from an injury depends on how severe the injury is, and how well the client complies with treatment and home exercise programs. A minor sprain may only take a week to heal, while a complete ligament tear could require months.
Assisting clients in setting realistic fitness goals is also important, and regularly reassessing these goals to ensure they’re on track for success. Strengthening surrounding muscles is critical as well, as this can help prevent future injuries and support stability and function. Finally, incorporating functional exercises that mimic real-life movements is critical to helping clients build the muscle strength, flexibility and coordination necessary to be injury-free.
The first step is to break recovery down into “baby steps.” This begins with gentle movement, followed by mobilizing and stretching. Next comes endurance training with lower load and higher reps. Once the injured area is feeling stronger, it’s important to progress to the final phase of rehabilitation – strength training. Strength training is the only way to build muscle mass and increase strength, and it’s a great way to achieve neuromuscular symmetry, meaning both sides of your body are firing in equal amounts.
When rehabbing an injury, it’s important to remember that the injury probably happened because of a chain of events. Whether that was neglecting to warm up and properly prepare a joint, overusing the muscle, or overloading it with too much weight. Taking the time to address these issues and fully rehab an injury can prevent similar injuries in the future.
A strong commitment to your clients’ long-term health is the best way to keep them on track for successful injury recovery. Keep them motivated by providing relevant fitness content that they can review outside of their sessions and educating them on how to properly stretch, warm-up, and listen to their bodies. This will help them avoid future injuries and maintain a healthy lifestyle, which will in turn reduce the risk of chronic illnesses. Finally, by ensuring their injury rehabilitation plan is well-rounded and includes a variety of different workouts, you’ll help them achieve long-term success. Contact Carters Home Gym from Long Island NY to learn more about designing a rehab facility that will keep your clients safe, happy and healthy.