Did you know that the things you eat when you’re injured affect your recovery time?
When you are recovering from an injury not only is the specific exercise you do important, but what you put in your body has a major impact on your recovery. Did you know that muscle loss is most profound in the first 2 weeks of limb immobilization? This increased muscle loss is primarily due to a decline in basal muscle protein synthesis rate and the resistance to dietary protein intake. What this means is that when you’re injured and need to be immobilized for some reason whether it’s for stabilization or post-surgical your body is not utilizing protein for building muscle (or preventing its breakdown) at its optimal rate.
What should I eat to help maintain muscle during an injury?
When injured, studies have shown having a specific amount and type of protein in your diet is beneficial for maintaining your muscle mass and helping to prevent muscle breakdown. The recommendations are the following: • 1.6-2.5 grams of protein per kg of bodyweight ingested daily • Protein should be ingested 4-6x a day (about every 3-4 hours) • You should be ingesting 2.5-3 grams of Leucine which breaks down slowly in your body to prevent breakdown Why is this important? Recovering from an injury can be difficult and long. It can be even harder when all you want to do is get back to doing what you love. When recovering you need to make sure you are doing everything possible for your body to heal and allow you to get back to competition as fast as possible. Please contact Dr Ben Bagge at prokinetixrehab.com for his expertise in athletic recovery if you have any further questions about if you are doing everything as optimally as possible to return to your competition faster and stronger.
Pro+Kinetix Physical Therapy & Performance specializes in helping active individuals in Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley, Walnut Creek, and San Francisco get back to exercising and working out pain free without having to take time off or relying on injections/pain medication. Pro+Kinetix offers rehabilitation and performance services to all populations, with specialties in Sports Rehabilitation, Active Release Techniques, and Manual Therapy Techniques plus Personal and Small Group Training, Sport Clinics and Wellness Services.
