How long does it take to recover from a sports injury?

There is no unified standard answer to the recovery cycle of sports injuries. As minor as an ordinary skin abrasion or mild muscle strain, normal activities can be basically returned to in 3-7 days. As severe as a cruciate ligament rupture or comminuted fracture of a joint, it may take half a year to two years of systemic rehabilitation. In severe cases, permanent movement restrictions may be left.

I usually work as a voluntary rehabilitation coach in an amateur running group. I have seen too many people asking "how soon can I go back to playing ball/running" when they get injured? To be honest, I can't give an accurate estimate because individual differences are too big. Let’s talk about a little girl I just met last week. She accidentally stepped on a manhole cover while running at night and sprained her foot. The X-ray showed only soft tissue edema and no damage to ligaments or bones. She obeyed the instructions and applied ice and elevated the affected limb within 72 hours. After that, she slowly did ankle pump exercises. She was able to walk normally on the fifth day and returned to 5-kilometer jogging in two weeks. But last year, another young man in the group fell too hard while trying to grab the half-marathon PB. His anterior cruciate ligament was completely ruptured. After reconstructive surgery, he practiced according to the rehabilitation plan for 10 months. Now he has just dared to try interval running. He still has to train for another half a year before returning to the previous pace.

I used to hear old people say that "it takes a hundred days to break a muscle." Now many people on the Internet are arguing about whether this statement is accurate. Some people say that they can resume normal activities after more than two months after the fracture, while others say that their ligaments are still in pain after half a year. Those who say this are all liars. In fact, this is an average reference value. It is just like repairing a bicycle tire, but with a small nail stuck on the surface. You can continue riding in ten minutes by patching the film. If the entire sidewall is cracked, you either need to repair it and slowly dry it out, or you simply need to replace the tire. The time spent is naturally very different. It is also an ankle fracture. A young man in his early 20s has a fast metabolism and can keep up with rehabilitation training. It is common for him to be off crutches for more than two months. If it is an old man in his 60s with osteoporosis, he may not be able to walk well for more than four months.

There is also a very common debate about whether you should rest or move as soon as possible if you are injured. Some people say that if you are injured, you should lie down completely until you are completely healed. Others say that you will become more and more useless if you lie down. The sooner you move, the faster you will get better. I once met a young man who was afraid of pain after his wrist was sprained. He wore a wrist brace for three months and did not dare to move it. After removing the wrist brace, he found it difficult to even hold a cup. It took him almost a month of joint mobility training to recover. But there are also people with acute strains who can't move around the next day after the injury. Originally it was just a mild strain, but it was violently torn into a partial tear, and it took two more months to recover. To put it bluntly, this depends on the stage. You must be immobilized in the first 72 hours after an acute injury, otherwise it will only aggravate swelling and bleeding. After the acute stage, you must slowly start targeted rehabilitation training. Lying down all the time will cause muscle atrophy and joint adhesion, which will slow down the recovery pace.

If you really want to recover quickly, don't always stick to other people's recovery timetables, and don't blindly believe in any "seven-day quick recovery" folk remedies. If you are really unsure, just ask a professional rehabilitation practitioner for evaluation and adjust the plan according to your own situation. This is better than anything else.