Tips For Creating An Injury Rehabilitation Workout
Last week we discussed goals directed to increasing endurance, this week I’d like to focus on injury rehabilitation! This will look a bit different than the other workouts, somewhat comparable to the muscle building style. This type of workout is also very dependent on what the injury is and the severity. You should only start an exercise program if it’s recommended by your doctor/physiotherapist. Working in a clinic allowed me to see some of these different very intricate type of exercise’s, but what injury I saw most commonly was the knee. If you are focusing on rehabilitation the shoulder and lower back are also common areas. Rehabilitation is sometimes the first opportunity people have to exercise, so the beginner vs novice exerciser will also look different in this type of scenario. I’ll say again if you are new to exercise and looking to increase anything really, you will still want to incorporate muscle building to lay a good foundation that can then be played with more depending on goals. We need to have muscle on our bodies to get stronger, and the same works for healing too! Along with rehabilitative exercise’s this style of program will also incorporate classic functional exercise’s you would see in a muscle building style program. Building muscle and working against resistance not only makes our muscles stronger - it makes our joints stronger too!
The rehabilitation type of workout shown is just an example of many difference ways you can approach it, this one focusing on a knee injury. Rather than splitting it into upper and lower body I will show a beginner vs advanced version. The importance of having enough protein and proper nutrition in general should still be recognized when working on rehabilitation. To increase our muscle mass we must have protein to build and maintain. When training with an injury it is safe to assume that is usually your main goal, rehabilitating from that injury. If you were a regular exerciser of some kind and your injury is from that, you will not necessarily want to get back into that same activity immediately. Your workout program is something separate and based on healing, not performance. Technique and form are the most important factors in this type of phase, there is no shame in doing something bodyweight until it can be completed properly. For the most part, you should only be in a caloric deficit when trying to lose body fat. If you are trying to improve or increase anything you will probably want to be in a caloric surplus. How much of a caloric surplus depends from person to person still. If your goals are to not gain weight you don’t want to go above the calories you are putting out, so where those calories come from is very important (your macro’s). Whole natural foods for every phase of training at all times of life is key :).
Tracking your progress for a rehabilitation workout also looks different, measurements can be helpful if you are also trying to increase strength/muscle mass. Mobility tests and movement patterns will be the main tracker for this program.
I’ll show a basic framework of what a rehabilitative “muscle building” workout would look like, specifically someone working with a knee injury. Also keeping in mind everyones goals and what works for their bodies are different so your workout may still look different than this, this is just a framework I have created that tends to be successful.
We still want to do our warmup cardio and exercise’s, however this is one of the few times we may leave our compound lift towards the end. Again depending on the injury, the barbell and dumbbells can both be beneficial. In most cases with injuries you are working with an imbalance, so you will probably do more dumbbells and uni lateral training.
Training the core is still just as important, as there is usually balance training involved in rehabilitative training. Creating symmetry within the body and having a strong core will help you overcome almost any injury where ever it may be. Compound lifts are still your best deal when it comes to training, they teach the body to move as one unit so we don’t injure ourselves further.
Stretching is a big factor when training for anything! But with injury a lot of the times we have tight but weak muscles in the affected area, stretching these areas along with strengthening will help lower risk of injury.
Here are examples of a workout for someone who hasn’t exercised before vs someone who has experience:
A reminder that these are just examples! I’m not recommending these to anyone and there are TONS of different combinations that will be better from person to person… I saved rehabilitation last because this is where it gets very individualized and can be difficult to show a generic workout. Once you have healed and can workout regularly again you will want to train both sides of the body equally.
One of the fun things about exercising and why I love being a Personal Trainer is just putting different workouts together for different bodies.. it’s like an art! Especially when it comes to working with injuries, I also saved this for last because as much as I love what I do and all the different areas… this one is my personal favourite :).
Hope you enjoyed this series!
Happy exercising,
Robyn