Resting from Activity

Many injuries need time off from physical activity to heal. However, this does not always mean completely stopping all activities and losing conditioning simply due to an injury.

When most people think of resting from rehearsals or other physical activities, they think of absolute rest. As the name suggests, absolute rest refers to taking a break from all physical activity for a specified period of time (essentially being a couch potato). While this type of rest can be beneficial for brief periods (like at the end of a sports or performing season) or may even be necessary (like right after surgery), too much absolute rest can actually lead to negative physiological changes including deconditioning, atrophy, and a loss of flexibility.

To avoid the negative consequences of too much absolute rest while still reaping the positive benefits of rest following an injury, many sports medicine professionals recommend relative rest. Some people refer to relative rest as partial participation. Relative rest involves avoiding activities that stress your injured body part while still participating in physical activities that use the remainder of your body. This allows your injured body part to heal while maintaining your body’s cardiovascular conditioning and the strength of all of your other body parts.

When designing your workouts while on relative rest, you may need to get creative to avoid stressing your injured body part. If you injured your ankle, structure your workouts around upper body exercises (preferably those that don’t require you to stand). If your shoulder is injured, the jarring effects of running may not be best for your healing shoulder, but exercise bikes and elliptical machines are excellent ways to get your cardio workout in (remember, you don’t have to hang on to the moving handles on these machines). Exercising in a pool is a great way to get your relative rest workout in, since the water’s buoyancy lowers the stresses and impacts placed on your body. The pool is also a great place to begin your progressive transition from resting to full activity.

The most important part of doing a workout while on relative rest is to be disciplined – you cannot allow yourself to do more than you should or to do exercises or activities that stress your injured body part. This will impede your healing and may even worsen your injury or lead to another one.

If you are injured and under the care of a medical professional, be sure to discuss doing relative rest activities with them before you start exercising. They may even have specific exercises or activities they’d like to have you do to help you transition smoothly into your rehabilitation program.