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Return to sport after injury

Edited by Ephraim, Charmed, Eng, sheryl hernandez and 1 other

Below-the-knee amputee Fields runs for berth in 2012 Paralympics 090721.jpg

This article will be on how a person can return to a sport after an injury. A really hard thing to do mentally and physically is to return to a sport after a serious injury for any person. There are a lot of factors involved in returning back to a sport whether it is physical therapy, surgery, practice and mentally getting yourself back together in order to perform at the level you performed before getting injured. Sports players who try to get back into the game have a lot of fears in returning back to the game that they love for fear of another injury or fear of performance so this guide will help to get a person back to their sport.

1
After you are diagnosed with you injury it is important that you take your time in the recovery process
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Take your time slowly in order to get the perfect time in for recovery, rushing your training will not benefit you at all but hurt your chances for recovery and a proper recovery. If you do not take your time in the recovery process then you will lose your chance to ever return back to your sport but it takes time to get yourself fully healed so be sure to pace yourself and understand that your career at this particular sport is at stake so take your time and heal properly through this process.

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2
Keep in touch with your physical therapist or your orthopedic doctor
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Depending on your injury, get in touch regularly with your health practitioner assigned to you for your injury situation and take heed and follow their instructions to the letter so that your recuperation and return to the game will be no problem at all because you have healed rapidly. The healing should be both physical and mental.

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3
Practice on your own at your particular sport in question, but do the proper practice versus trying to go full speed
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Take your practices and warm up at a very slow pace or "half speed" just to see if you are prepared to go full speed soon but not right at that moment. Depending on your sport there are a number of drills that you can participate in to see where you are at physically but do not strain yourself while practicing for this can set you back even further if you happen to re injure yourself again and you will have no one to blame but yourself in this matter. Also before trying to practice on your own at this slow pace consult your doctor and ask if it is time for you to be training at this speed for your doctor will know best about this situation than you will, so listen to your doctor but at the same time you know when it is time to call it quits and take breaks during these sessions.
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4
Slowly get yourself back into the swing of things with your workouts
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Workout in whatever way that you usually workout whether it is jogging, lifting weights, swimming or whatever else activity it is that you would regularly participate in but understand that you need to ease back into this and not go full speed when doing this workout. Do not do anything that you have not regularly done only do things that you have done before and also workouts that will help you to work on the injury that you have unfortunately been stuck with for this time. When returning back to these workouts you will need to understand that you will not be at your full peak performance and that you will have a bit of a struggle during these workout sessions so do not get angry or down about it and try to push yourself too far for you are still injured.

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5
Continue to build through your workouts until you start to notice that you have increased your workout performance and are regaining your old self back
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Continue this repetitive to get your old swing back into things the way you used to before, upon doing this go and continue back into your drills for your sport to check and monitor your performance at the sport you are playing to see if you are back to your old self or at least can increase your speed while playing your sport. Continue to go back and forth from practicing and working out to fully get yourself back healthy in both forms physically and at your sport. Check in with your doctor first to see if it is time for you to return to live gaming action. If he says you are cleared to go then go ahead and get back in the game after you have ensured with yourself mentally and physically by engaging fully in practice and activities. If you do not feel as if you are fully ready to compete in a live game then let your doctor know and you coach for they will understand that you have been through an injury and will also be concerned about your well-being especially if you are also concerned about yourself in the process.
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6
When you feel up to playing at a higher speed grab someone else who can play against you to help you react in a real game sense to see if you are fully back to your old self or even how close you are to recovery
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With another person playing against you things will not be as easy as playing by yourself, they will add some competition and make you have to do things with your body that you wouldn't do normally so this is a win/win situation even if you are not fully up for competing for you will know what it is that you need to work on to improve yourself from this point, without using someone to play against you will not know of you full potential to go back to your sport so work hard to get someone to help you out to recognize your full potential.

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7
Go back to your team to engage in a full on practice, this will be the ultimate test to see if you are ready to engage in full on practice and situations relative to a real live game
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Practice is the closest thing you will be able to utilize to check and see if you are ready for live play against another team. Understand that teammates may be lenient on you for they know about your injury and may care about you so don't take doing good in practice as a definite sign that you are ready to jump right back in the sport fully. Use practice a form of reference so that you can know where you stand at the time being on whether or not you are ready for full on activity, pay attention to your mistakes and also your good while practising to know what more it is that you need to work on.
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8
Check in with your doctor first to see if it is time for you to return to live gaming action
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If he says you are cleared to go then go ahead and get back in the game after you have ensured with yourself mentally and physically by engaging fully in practice and activities. If you do not feel as if you are fully ready to compete in a live game then let your doctor know and you coach for they will understand that you have been through an injury and will also be concerned about your well-being especially if you are also concerned about yourself in the process.- ensure that you are fully ready to return mentally for having the fear of your injury can stop you from performing to your full potential. Having a mental set back can affect you in the game and also in practice for you will have the fear of hurting yourself making you limit your performance. Keep the mindset that you will be successful during your recovery without a doubt and see yourself making a great return back to your game.

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9
Ensure that you are fully ready to return mentally for having the fear of your injury can stop you from performing to your full potential
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Having a mental set back can affect you in the game and also in practice for you will have the fear of hurting yourself making you limit your performance. Keep the mindset that you will be successful during your recovery without a doubt and see yourself making a great return back to your game.
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