Dealing with Minor Injuries
September 17, 2009
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Posted by billspaced
Wrist injury
Last month, I went on an excellent road trip vacation with my family (my wife and two boys — a 3 1/2 and 2 year old) up through central Oregon and back down the west coast. Absolutely stunning scenery!
We loaded up (and I’m not exaggerating) the Pilot — 2 bikes, bike trailer, stroller, porta crib, and enough food and clothing to last most sane people 6 months!
But we’re insane.
We spent the first week at a cabin on a ranch outside Ashland, OR. There was a ton to do there for the boys, and I could ride my mountain bike on some pretty hilly and rugged terrain. It was hotter than you-know-what, and even the flats felt like mountains.
That’s the prelude 
So I picked the hottest day of our stay to explore. I climbed a bunch of hills to get where I was going (which, essentially, was “nowhere”). Then the trail disappeared. After a little trek up some ridiculous terrain, I became “the decider.” Bad idea!
I turned around. As I approached warp speed, I started to brake, but obviously not enough! I made a slight turn of the wheel, the tire dug in, the bike virtually stopped, but I didn’t. After slamming hands first into the gravel, I made two somersaults and landed on my shoulder.
After I picked the gravel from my palms and knees, brushed off a bit, I hopped back up on the bike. A little blood, but remarkably not much pain.
Until two days later. My right wrist had taken the brunt of the crash and was pretty sore. That was a month and a half ago. It is still sore.
Especially after I had the shots yesterday to burst the ganglia that had presented itself. Plus, apparently, I had broken my hand, but it had already healed. Now I’ve got this red (soon-to-be-purple) bruise on the back side of my arm where the hand meets the wrist.
The doctor said the treatment given works about 50 percent of the time. Let’s hope. Otherwise, my alternatives are to “live with it” or have surgery to remove it. I guess it’s like a cyst. Not a big deal, but man am I tired of surgeries! 3 on the knee and an emergency appendectomy are enough for this cowboy!
So, to the subject of this post.
How to Deal with Minor Injuries
First and foremost, the treatment I am about to describe is not to be construed as medical advice. I am not a doctor, just a guy whose had his share of minor injuries and is sharing his successes and failures with you. We’re talking sprains and strains, slight pulls, and the like. Not bone breaks, muscle tears, incessant bleeding or other soft tissue damage that might require surgery. Seek medical attention right away!
Then, treat your injury right away with RICE:
- Rest
- Ice
- Compression
- Elevation
I hate medication as much as the next guy, but I recommend that you also take a pain reliever like Motrin. It will take the edge off and reduce swelling. Obviously, don’t take a medication that you know you’re allergic to or have had adverse side effects in the past.!
I’ve found success by also keeping the joint immobile for a day or two. I ice the injury for 10-15 minutes every hour for as long as I’m awake. Of course, you may have some timing issues if you’re at work or have to drive somewhere, but if you’re home, ice as frequently as possible.
Then, after 2 days or so, start light exercise. Get the joint moving. Do whatever you can without pain. If you experience pain, stop. Ice some more.
After 3-5 days, you should be at 80 percent or so.
Dealing with Injury while Exercising
My particular wrist pain is exacerbated mostly by anything where a weight is pressing against the palm of my hand. Things like bench presses, military presses, and the like. But interestingly, you never notice this until you’re hurt, but supporting weight in things like squats and calf presses KILL!
So I work around it. Rather than grip the bar for the duration in the squat, I wrap my arms around the bar so that my hands aren’t gripping the bar at all. For calf presses, I did donkey presses instead of standing presses.
Things like that.
You have to continue treatment for as long as the injury persists, keep the joint flexible and strong, but without causing any undue pain.
Time doesn’t heal, but it sure helps!
If you follow this advice, I am hopeful that you can keep the minor injuries that you’re going to get to a minimum and allow you to continue to workout with minimal lost time.
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Categories: bodybuilding, Exercise, Injury, low back, rest
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Tags: Injury, muscle pulls, RICE, sprains, strains
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well, i am having pain too in wrist and left shoulder but i still doing exercise. i went to the doctors everyone gave me so called pain killers they didn’t work for all i did start exercise again
The RICE method is definitely a great preventative measure for future pain (if that makes sense). I also think that if you take a daily vitamin regiment that will help with overall health and bone density and structure.
My buddy is in Army OCS and pretty much using RICE as best he can to get through. I guess they run a lot! He is getting overuse injuries in his ankle pretty bad. I also recommended he do some myofascial release to help alleviate the muscle tension/trigger points too. RICE to heal…but for him…RICE to be able to function the next day too!
.-= Nate´s last blog ..Video: How to Find the Perfect Long Beach Personal Trainer =-.
This article is spot on..I have always been a workout addict, but lately I’ve been kicking it up a notch, and can really feel the pain..I don’t think pain is the right word, more like extreme soreness. What’s the best thing to do in such a situation? Do you skip your workout the next day, or do you just push through it? I tend to wuss out, but perhaps I should be pushing myself? What’s the best way to move ahead?
Soreness is a sign that you worked out really hard. It may also be a sign of injury or too much lactic acid build up. Normally, if you’re attempting to gain size or tone, you’re doing 6-12 rep sets, which will not bring on the lactic acid build up. You most likely will not have injured yourself, either, since you’re using good form and you’re not performing max singles.
I’d say most of the soreness for the body part in question should be completely gone before you train it again. Otherwise, you might be in peril of overtraining that muscle group.
If you’re a “little” sore however, you can train the group again. I’d use lighter weights and higher reps. This will get the blood flowing and allow the blood to carry away a lot of the waste products created that contributed to the soreness in the first place.
If, on the other hand, you seriously injured the muscle, then please see your doctor and treat the injury appropriately.
Thanks for the comment!
.-= billspaced´s last blog ..Gain Muscle Mass =-.
This blog has a great information. This information is useful for every person in their every day life. I have learned so many points from this blog. Many many thanks to the author of this blog.
Great information. Though I already heard about this topic, I am not fully aware of it. Today you made me clear about this information. Actually, one of my friend is in a need of this information. Now I am going to help him. Thanks for posting such nice post.
I never thought that this blog is going to help me a lot. One of my cousin was suffering with the same problem which was explained in this blog. But, by following the tips provided in the blog I helped him to get rid of his problem. I am very thankful to this blog.
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Hope right now you are doing good. Any how, your experience made us to learn many things. Bones in that area are some what critical when compared with other bones in our body. So we should be very careful in case of any accidents or injuries. Thanks for sharing nice information.
It seems very useful information. Actually my mother was suffering with the same problem. But now I’m having the hope that i can help her if i really follow your tips. Thanks for sharing great ideas& tips.
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Two things I can suggest for minor injuries is to consume more vitamin C and take sea cucumber jelly which contains a lot of growth factors and collagen.
I hope you’re already fine by now! About 2 years ago I had a very similar injury. Little paintball accident… One little tip from me is to increase your calcium intake by drinking milk or similar stuff. This will also support the healing process
actually it’s
PRICE
Protect
Rest
Ice
Compress
Elevate
I’m just a student learning First aid. HOPE you feel better and take care of yourself.
Let me get this straight… you BROKE your hand and didn’t even know it? Wow, you must have some tolerance for pain.
As a follow up question… Did the treatment work for you? End up having 9another) surgery? Or did you decide to “live with it”?
.-= Home Fitness Business´s last blog ..How To Start a Fitness Program Business Plan =-.
@Home Fitness Business Ah, yes, the followup! Reminds me I should write a post about that
The treatment did not work. The injection I got made my wrist sore but the pain did go away, but only for a few days. So I decided to “live with it.” It is, however, slowly getting better. I did take a minor set back on training/rehab, in that I landscaped my back yard and didn’t work out for a couple of weeks, then I got sick…
But back to the gym time now!
Yeah, the high tolerance for pain is a blessing and a curse. Sometimes I don’t know I’m injured and make it worse
.-= billspaced´s last blog ..How To Build Big Calves =-.
Great blog very useful information top marks
Great one..
I have hear about this,but did not knew in detail…
Thanks for the ideas
It is very interesting blog.
If is difficult sometimes to rely on instinct on how much you can safely attempt when you have a dance injury, so rather check with your doctor or physical therapist.
my boyfriend had the same thing but he went to the gym and lifted too much weight. The next day both of his wrists were "trashed", it hurt him to move his hands, it hurt to type, to write and the pain lasted for about 2 months but it went away by itself eventually through exercising some more
Soreness is a sign that you worked out really hard. It may also be a sign of injury or too much lactic acid build up. Normally, if you’re attempting to gain size or tone, you’re doing 6-12 rep sets, which will not bring on the lactic acid build up. You most likely will not have injured yourself, either, since you’re using good form and you’re not performing max singles.