Can You Prevent Muscle Loss When Injured?
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22/10/2019
Written By: Ryan Chan |
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Injury is everyone’s worst nightmare in the pursue for fitness. One simple injury can set you back weeks or even months. This is mainly due to the reduction of the ability to perform what you use to do be it by strength, stamina, mobility, condition so on and so forth. Of which, muscle atrophy, or the loss of muscle, is one of the main driver to the reduction in performance.
So then, can we prevent muscle loss when injured?
Sad to say, the answer is no. But more specifically, the muscle / muscle groups that are affected by the injury will, without a doubt, suffer some degree of muscle loss. For example, is you have a left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, your left thigh muscle group will definitely have some degree of muscle loss due to the inability to use them normally.
To prevent muscle atrophy, it requires 2 factors – Nutrition and Muscle Stimulation. One has to have enough nutrient in the body to feed the muscle while providing sufficient stimulant for it to maintain the mass or grow. In the case of an injury, the latter is heavily affected thus muscle loss is bound to happen. In general, one will begin to lose muscle strength and cardio fitness as fast as three to four weeks.
However, with that being said, all is not loss. Don’t forget that you have other muscles that are still working normally.
Here are 5 things you can do to help ease yourself back into exercising.
So then, can we prevent muscle loss when injured?
Sad to say, the answer is no. But more specifically, the muscle / muscle groups that are affected by the injury will, without a doubt, suffer some degree of muscle loss. For example, is you have a left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, your left thigh muscle group will definitely have some degree of muscle loss due to the inability to use them normally.
To prevent muscle atrophy, it requires 2 factors – Nutrition and Muscle Stimulation. One has to have enough nutrient in the body to feed the muscle while providing sufficient stimulant for it to maintain the mass or grow. In the case of an injury, the latter is heavily affected thus muscle loss is bound to happen. In general, one will begin to lose muscle strength and cardio fitness as fast as three to four weeks.
However, with that being said, all is not loss. Don’t forget that you have other muscles that are still working normally.
Here are 5 things you can do to help ease yourself back into exercising.
1. Work Your Other Muscles
If you lower body is injured, you can still workout your upper body and vice versa. Point is, don’t stop completely. Other muscle group which are not injure should and can still be stimulated for growth. This also allows you to enhance groups of muscle that you might not have paid much attention to.
2. Include Swimming In Your Recovery Routine
Swimming is a good light resistance training for your entire body with the help of water resistance, while at the same time, supports your body, reducing stress and strain to your joints from impact.
3. Feed Your Body Well
Remember to provide your body the resource it needs for growth and recovery. In general, keep your protein intake at least 0.8 – 1.2g per bodyweight in kg to maintain your muscle mass. Other vitamins and mineral such as Vitamin A, E, C and copper can help reduce inflammation, protect cells from free radicals, improve immune system and strengthen connective tissue.
4. Manage Your Weight Well
If you know that you will not be as physically active as before, reduce your calories intake. You don’t want those extra weight to be an additional burden to your already injured body, making it even tougher to get back to your original fitness level.
5. Don’t Forget About Muscle Memory
Your muscles are also pretty smart. Due to the effect of muscle memory, you can expect to get back your muscle mass up to 3 times faster than if you have never train them before. So don’t be too dishearten about the loss of muscle mass. In the long run, you will still have a good chance to get back to your original fitness level, while knowing how to properly train yourself so that you will not get injured again. So just do everything safely for now and not rush your recovery.
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