Taking time to evaluate your body and heal appropriately after injuries can make your body stronger than before.
It can appear funny when people fall or run into each other accidentally on the field, and it becomes an inevitable source of enjoyment for everyone else when replayed over and over again for friends and foes alike, but these run-ins, tumbles, trips and spills can be the cause of serious injuries or can exacerbate minor strains and sprains into full-blown issues.
Injuries happen for a variety of reasons, but how you handle them before getting back on your feet—or using both arms again—is of the greatest importance. Taking the appropriate amount of time off, based on doctor recommendations, to allow your injuries to completely and fully heal is the key to getting back on the field, playing music and marching again as soon as possible.
Assessing the Causes
Learn from your injury. Figure out what you were doing that caused the injury in the first place and start making adjustments to ensure that you do not reinjure yourself. Taking the time to carefully study your alignment and routine can shine a light on potential overuse of muscles or joints and will help safeguard you in the future.
Some human resource departments even take stock of their employees’ health and safety by providing “desk evaluations,” which entail a surveying of employees’ working environments and their physical routines, in order to guard against potential injuries, such as back problems and carpal tunnel.
Coming Back Stronger
Many dancers and athletes have said that they have come back stronger after an injury, so while sitting on the sidelines can be rough, especially emotionally, you can take comfort in knowing that you will most likely be coming back onto the field stronger than before and definitely more knowledgeable about the instrument that is your body.
Coming back from an injury can be immensely rewarding; however, be mindful that our bodies often do not work the same as before the injury occurred. That mindfulness helps us to discover even more amazing things of which our bodies are capable.
Oftentimes as we work to recuperate our bodies, we are taking better care of ourselves than when we were completely fine. Therefore, we often find that we are able to surpass limits that we previously could not.
Discussing New Routines
As always, if you are injured or coming back from an injury, make sure to talk to your doctor about your healing process, new workout routine, potential physical therapy and length of time you may need to be off the field. Take the necessary time to fully heal and do the work needed to come back better than before.
