Injuries aren't fun, but they are sometimes part of an active lifestyle.
I'm going to touch on six injury lessons today to guide you in optimizing recovery from injury with some fuel and a bit of both intuition and common sense.
An Injury is Never Part of the Plan
I was about 10 minutes into a long Saturday run, and I needed to log about 12 miles to stay on schedule for my upcoming marathon. But around 10 minutes in I felt it AGAIN. There was a nagging pain in my groin and a growing feeling of tension in my hip. It literally felt like my leg was going to snap.
Usually, I'd run through any discomfort, waiting for everything to warm up until I hit the gliding feeling and euphoria that comes with regular distance running. But that morning, a runner's high was not in the cards.
The very next day, I would have some imaging done to diagnose the problem. I should have known when the radiology tech came back to get me with a wheelchair that I was dealing with a significant injury. A femoral neck stress fracture, to be exact.
The neck of the femur is essentially the connecting piece between your leg bone and your hip joint (my PT colleagues are cringing at that description right now). My fracture was a compression side fracture, as shown in B below.
Image Credit: Medscape
My leg felt like it was going to snap off because it was. That brings us to our first lesson.
Lesson 1: Intuition
Listen to your gut feeling that something is wrong.
Lesson 2: Common Sense
Don't push through injuries because you can make them worse. Nothing I say later in this article will remedy an injury if you don't stop the aggravating activity.
Healing from the Inside Out
When your injured, the cells in your body kick into action:
Protecting the area of injury
Regenerating your tissues
You've experienced the initial response that protects the area, most notably swelling to cushion the area (nature's cast) and heat to kill off bacteria. Underneath the injury, your white blood cells increase to protect the area from bacteria, especially if the skin is broken. Your blood becomes sticky to clot quickly and avoids high amounts of blood loss and adrenaline spikes.
When the hustle and bustle of the initial injury wears off, it's time for repair. There may be a step in there that I haven't touched on like a cast or surgery. But, in my case, there was neither, I was to rest, rest, rest. In fact, I got not one piece of information about my diet from the world-renowned health care facility that shall go unnamed.
So what was a girl to do to support the healing process?
Lesson 3: Drink Water
It seems simple enough, and I have long harped on staying hydrated. Every metabolic reaction in the body requires water. When you're injured, activity goes up, and therefore, your water needs also go up.
If you're taking pain medication, you also want to boost your fluids to prevent constipation. Pain killers traditionally dull the nerves that cause the contractions of the digestive tract, so food and waste won't move as regularly.
Lesson 4: Eat Enough
Remember, food is the gasoline that runs our engines. An injury ramps up the speed of the engine:
Surgery to restore the anatomy
Cellular repair to heal the injury
The immune response to protect against infection
They all require extra calories, so you'll likely need to eat a bit more to keep up with the work.
Lesson 5: Reduce Inflammation
The standard American diet causes inflammation. Typical foods are white bread, cheese, deli meats, fried foods, soda, cookies, processed food. Conversely, a Mediterranean diet reduces inflammation. Your anti-inflammatory prescription:
Vegetables and fruits
Omega 3 fats: wild fatty fish, walnuts, chia seeds, flax seeds
Herbs and spices: ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, cayenne, parsley
Herbal tea
Eat until satisfied, not stuffed
Fish oil and curcumin (the phytonutrient found in turmeric) are potent anti-inflammatories. If you aren't eating two servings of wild fatty fish each week, a good quality fish oil supplement can provide the omega 3's you need.
About 2000 mg of fish oil is equivalent to two weekly servings. My favorite types of fish oil are Pure Encapsulations ONE Omega, Metagenics Omegagenics and Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega
It's difficult to eat and absorb a lot of turmeric to match the therapeutic doses used in clinical studies. Therefore, a supplement can also be useful for this nutrient. For curcumin, 500-2000 mg per day can be useful. I like Integrative Therapeutics Theracurmin and Thorne Meriva.
CAUTION: I am not a doctor, and this advice does not constitute individual medical advice. I find it helpful to include dosages that I have used in a clinical setting, but that does not mean they are appropriate for you individually. Please schedule a visit with me to discuss your case individually. Omega 3 Fish Oil and curcumin have a mild blood-thinning effect, should not be given to young children or used before or immediately following surgery.
Lesson 6: Boost Protein and Antioxidants
Is your body building new tissue? You bet. New tissue means the body needs more of the building blocks of proteins, amino acids. To meet this increased demand, you'll need to eat more protein foods:
Chicken
Fish
Beef
Eggs
Game
Collagen
Beans
Nuts
Eat slowly and chew your food well to give protein digestion a head start.
Antioxidants help reduce damage to cells and help repair them. Antioxidants are found mostly in colorful plant foods. Fill your plate up with lots of colors every day.
Red: strawberries, apples, red peppers
Orange: clementines, cantaloupe, carrots, orange peppers
Yellow: bananas, pineapple, summer squash
Green: leafy greens, green apples, zucchini
Blue/Purple: purple cabbage, plums, blueberries
Brown/Black: quinoa, black beans
White: cauliflower, onions, garlic
My strategy is usually a smoothie and a salad every day. Between those two, I can get in most of the colors, and I don't have to overthink it.
Bone Building Bonus: Vitamins and Minerals
Does your injury involve a broken bone? In that case, it's important to note that several micronutrients play a role in rebuilding the bone matrix that should be top of mind:
Calcium
Magnesium
Phosphorus
Vitamin D
You can absolutely get these nutrients through foods like yogurt, nuts, seeds, plant milk, cow's milk and eggs. I'm also a big fan of a supplement called Bone Builder by Metagenics. I personally used it during my injury, and I still take it.
Now, Go Rest
Injury recovery is frustrating enough as it is without hampering your progress with a crappy diet. So once you get through the initial period where you are a prisoner of circumstance, and everyone is bringing you food, let’s recap what you will be doing:
Drink enough water, 2-3 liters usually covers it
Eat enough (eat when hungry, stop when satisfied)
Fill your plate or blender with protein and bright colored fruits and vegetables
Kick up your herbs and spices game
Supplement when necessary to complete your recovery plan, but first, consult with a Registered Dietitian.
And remember, rest, unless your doctor or PT tell you otherwise. No amount of healthy food or supplements will replace the healing that takes place when you stop the aggravating activity.
Have any questions? Please post them in the Forum so we can answer them this week on the Fuel Move Recover Podcast.
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