What? Coronavirus causes foot, ankle, and lower leg injuries too?

It does. But it’s not a direct result of the virus itself. Rather, people feel trapped at home and need some way to get back to their active lifestyles. Others just can’t stand being at home all the time and simply need some relief, and so they find themselves walking the dog and running more.

So indirectly, coronavirus has led to a rash of more foot, ankle, and lower leg injuries.

The Best Treatment Approach: Prevention

You’re always better off taking a sound approach to new activity, consciously strategizing how you’re going to go about it, rather than jumping right in. It’s much harder, and more painful, to deal with a foot, ankle, or lower leg injury after it’s happened than it is to prevent one from happening in the first place.

It’s difficult to keep this in your mind if you’re going nuts staying inside your home all the time. You want to get out and do whatever you can now.

That’s perfectly okay. But you have to take a measured approach so you don’t overdo it, cause yourself an injury, and then spend several weeks or a couple months recovering.

So, for starters, if you haven’t been too active for quite some time, the first thing to do would be to talk with your doctor and create a plan for a return to activity. They can help you understand what to do each day and week so you work yourself up to full speed and nearly eliminate your chance of injury along the way.

Key Parts of Every Exercise Plan

Every return to activity, or plan to engage in more strenuous activity than before, should contain a few simple elements:

1. Warm-up – Your muscles perform better during regular exercise if you’ve stretched and warmed them up a little. This can even lead to quicker recovery after your workout.
2. Start slow – Whatever you think you can do, or whatever you want to do, do a little less than that to start. Work your way up to your goal over a period of weeks, rather than days.
3. Eat right – Keep fresh fruit, vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains at the forefront of your diet. This gives you lasting, sustainable energy, rather than spikes and crashes.
4. Drink water – Around 60% of your body is water. Your body wants it. And it needs water for its best performance. Avoid sports drinks, which are loaded with empty carbs.
5. Take it easy – If your body feels tired and like it can’t handle what you want it to do, give it the rest it needs. Not giving your body rest only causes more harm, reduces your focus, and increases your chance of injury.

You can return to activity. But take it easy and follow these guidelines so you don’t find yourself with an injury that sidelines you for several weeks or months!