How to use muscle contractions to aid injury recovery

We all know how incredible the muscles in our body are and what they can allow us to do, but they can also be used to aid injury recovery. Here we look at how…

How can muscle contractions help us recover from injury?

Muscles are attached onto our bones by tendons, working together in pairs in a cyclical way. While under tension, muscles can change in length, which is known as isotonic contractions.

And we can use this type of contraction to help us with muscle and tendon recovery after an injury.

Using different types of muscle contraction at the correct phase in a rehab programme promotes cellular repair and remodelling, and will help improve the speed in which you recover from your injury.

The three types of muscle contraction

Isometric

This generates force without changing the length of the muscle. For example, engaging your abdominal muscles to stabilise our core when doing certain exercises or movements.

Eccentric

Here the muscles lengthen, generating force under tension that works like a ‘brake’, decelerating movements, normally in a downwards direction.

Concentric

During this phase of contraction, the muscle creates tension while its muscle fibres shorten. This generates enough force to move an object or weight.

Which contraction exercises help which types of injuries?

Isometric and eccentric exercises

Strengthening exercises are a vital part in any rehab programme. In the early phases of injury, isometric and eccentric exercises are normally used to help with keeping the muscle strong, without putting it through any more stress or strain.

Types of isometric exercises include: wall squats, planks – high and side, low squats, glute bridge and calf raises.

Types of eccentric exercises include: lowering a barbell toward your chest in a bench press or returning it to the ground after a deadlift; lowering into a squat; lowering into the bottom of a push-up; lowering your torso back to the ground in a sit-up; and slowly lowering down from the top of a pull-up.

These type of muscle contraction exercises have also been proven to help with repair and remodelling of tendon injuries.

A rehab plan that involves these type of exercises early on, is very helpful to get you back to exercise quicker after having an injury.

They’re also helpful if you suffer with injuries such as a tendosynovitis or tendonitis (inflammation of the tendon). For example, Achillies tendonitis or tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis).

Concentric exercises

When it’s suitable (advice from a physiotherapist is recommended) you should move on to adding other strength exercises into your rehab programme and gradually start to re-introduce concentric exercises again.

Types of concentric exercises include: Pushing up in a bench press; standing up in a back squat; pushing up from a lowered push-up; lifting a barbell off the ground at the beginning of a deadlift; sitting up in a sit-up; pulling yourself up to the bar in a pull-up.

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