How to Make Your Break Heal Faster
If you've broken a bone then chances are you have lost the use of one of your limbs. It is quite unbelievable how difficult it is going about your daily life with one leg out of action and I assume the same probably goes for your arms or hands. So one of your priorities will likely be getting the healing process going as fast as you can. I went for my 3 week check up last Friday and the news was good, my break is healing well, so I wanted to share some of the easy to do things that I think have helped along the way.
1. If you are hungry, eat!
Of course one of the things that you will be worrying about if you are immobilised, or unable to keep up with your usual exercise regime, is weight gain. This worry can cause you to not want to eat. You must eat. Healing a broken bone takes a lot of energy, in fact if your intake can increase by nearly 3 times as much*.
2. Keep it healthy
No gorging on takeaway (which is what I started to do before I did my reading). It's hard not to as you will probably be feeling a bit down in the dumps and who doesn't want pizza and chocolate when they're feeling a bit sad? The problems with doing this are: 1. You will gain weight meaning that when it comes to rehabilitating that leg, your poor peg will struggle under your new bulk. 2. The 'nutrition' that you'll be getting will not help heal your bones quickly enough. Stay strong, your injury and waste line will thank you.
3. Get some supps
By weight, your bones are roughly 70% minerals**, this means that to repair them you need to be topping up the supply. I am taking Cod Liver Oil, Vitamin C and Calcium +Vit D supplements daily and I could be getting more! Superdrug do a decent range that are quite cheap. Getting extra protein on board is also important. You can do this by eating a load of chicken and steak and nobody would blame you, but this might cost a few bob so why not look at a supplement for that too? Make sure you get a pure protein powder, the last thing you want is Creatine or any other added ingredient running around your system especially if you are bed bound. Have a look at Impact Whey from My Protein.
4. Exercise
Sounds counter intuitive right? Make sure you consult your doctor before you look at this but bone healing is actually stimulated by exercise***. If, like me, you have a full leg cast on then you can exercise the joints not limited by the cast. For me it is my toes and my hip, so every so often I give my toes a damn good wiggle and get up for a little crutch around even if I don't need to. It sounds like nothing but your body is extremely efficient and the slightest boot to its systems does the power of good.
5. No smoking
Maybe this goes without saying but smoking can really hold up your healing process. I have been guilty of the odd puff whilst I've been laid up and I can honestly say that it probably wasn't worth the potential weeks that I set myself back. Smoking reduces the blood supply to your bones meaning that those minerals you've been taking? They're not getting where they need to be. Stub it out.
Even if you you only implement one of these, it is worth the potential gain of a few days not in plaster right? And even if it doesn't mean your bones heal faster, the benefits to your health in general will still be there.
Got any other suggestions on how to help bones heal? Comment below.
*Dr Susan E Brown, How to Speed Fracture Healing
*** Exercise Can Heal Broken Bones www.sciencenordic.com
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