If you’ve suffered an injury, you most certainly wish that you could just click your fingers and have the pain be gone the next day. Of course, the body’s healing process doesn’t function that way and it takes time and proper care to get you back to feeling 100%. Oftentimes, physical therapy is an element to your recovery, stretching and activating muscles and other parts of our body that potentially haven’t been used or fully functional in quite a while. This movement will come as a slight surprise to that area of your body, as it may have been used to it’s new habit. While activity is necessary to get you back to your old self. this movement will cause resistance, and with this resistance will come soreness. So how can you deal with soreness after a physical therapy session? These three tips can help alleviate some of your discomfort:
- Ice the area >> Soreness typically means that the tissue of the body part is inflammed. Ice will work to cool and soothe the area – just as inflammation is a typical part of the healing process, ice should be a typical response to that inflammation. Apply ice for 20 minutes at a time, applying as often as you feel necessary.
- Drink water >> Soreness after a physical therapy session may be related to local inflammation, which produces waste products the body needs to eliminate. Drinking water throughout the day after a session will enable your body to process any toxins that had released into your blood stream.
- Take notes >> It’s your body, and your soreness, so write down where you feel the discomfort, how (if at all) the feeling has changed, and even how you feel following a physical therapy session. Any feedback you provide your therapist can act as a guide for future sessions.
