Injuries suck, there is no two ways about it. You spend time on the side lines watching your competitors improve while you pull your hair out itching to get back out there. This is a frustration I know well, and something I am very passionate about helping people minimise. Whether it be by helping to preventing injuries to begin with by making them as strong and stable as possible or helping accelerate the healing process via metabolic support from supplements and nutrition.
I have spoken before about nutrition as well as the benefits and dangers of taking the not so legal route to healing and using anabolic steroids to try to recover faster but this week I’m going to look into supplementation of the legal kind.
At the end of the day the body is very good at healing itself, after all it’s what’s in its best interest and when combined with modern surgery techniques healing times can be very rapid. The problem is everything you do wrong will put the brakes on and slows the process. Inflammatory foods, smoking, drugs, alcohol, all play a part in hindering the healing process, which you might say is pretty obvious. What’s not so obvious is the other little discrepancies that may lead to a reduced healing rate. Nutritional gaps, stress and poor sleep can lead to vitamin and mineral deficiencies that affect our body’s metabolic function. This impaired function leads to an increase in inflammation, hormonal imbalance and can results in poor healing performance.
So the question is how can we make sure our bodies are geared up for rapid healing? Well being in optimal health is the number one factor in rapid healing, it can mean the difference between 6 months on the sideline or just 4 months on the sideline and I have talked about this briefly before in my understanding supplements blog.
From a metabolic point of view, some of the most important vitamins and minerals that are deficient in western nutrition are zinc, magnesium, and vitamin D. Supplementing with these are essential to optimal metabolic function if you are deficient. Deficiencies can be easily picked up with a blood test from your GP. Recommended daily intake (RDI) of many vitamins and minerals is not only on the safe side of normal but also designated as a maintenance dosage for general population who are not active or deficient. Because of this, if deficiencies do present you will need to work with a qualified Biosignature practitioner like myself, a naturopath, or a doctor to ensure that your dosage is correct for your particular situation, ensuring you return to optimal levels safely.
Unfortunately, mainstream medicine seems to have a fairly loose definition as to what is actually a deficiency and many people that are well within the ‘normal’ range are in fact lacking. There is also a lot of research suggesting that there is no health benefit to dietary supplementation, the truth is that most of this research is either poor science, inadequate dosage or completed with isolated substances that either lack bioavailability or require additional vitamins/minerals to interact with so that they can perform their role in the human body. This research, unfortunately, often finds its way into mainstream media and educational institutions and text books cementing itself as unquestionable gospel and limiting the capabilities of many practitioners.
Other key supplements are omega 3’s eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) found in fish oil. EPA and DHA are essential for maintaining neurological function and cell wall integrity through the body. Research also indicates that higher doses help to manage inflammation, reduce fat and increase lean muscle. Often vegetarians are led to believe they have an adequate omega 3 intake because they use flax seed oil or other plant based supplementation. These plant based sources of omega 3 only contain alpha linolenic acid (ALA) which the human body poorly converts to EPA or DHA leading to deficiencies and negatively effecting neurological repair post injury.
Beyond the above mentioned I also like my clients to take a high quality broad-spectrum multi vitamin to fill any additional gaps they may have in their nutrition. All this is great but still one thing is missing, if an athlete’s gut health is impaired then they will have higher levels of inflammation and may not be able to absorb nutrients properly. To help combat this I like my team to take a high quality probiotic supplement. This helps to ensure their gut health is taken care of and they can absorb adequate nutrients as well as maintain over all hormonal balance.
Though everything if have just told you is absolute gold and will help to ensure you heal as well and fast as possible, I still have a few more cards up my sleeve… After all I can’t give all of my trade secrets away for free. If you or someone you know needs help with recovery and rehabilitation contact me today to arrange a consultation.
Train hard and be safe.
Your strength coach,
Cam