Optimal Nutrition for Injury Recovery
About this book
When it comes to being highly active, there are two types of those who have been injured or those who haven't gotten injured yet. These injuries can range from the minor (muscular pulls) to far greater (ligament sprains or worse). That's on top of the injuries that occur just being a human on this planet. In addition to the role of proper rehab, optimizing nutrition has been found to improve overall recovery. And for reasons I will explain below, I am happy to have written a new book on the topic of Optimal Nutrition for Injury Recovery.While this was always a topic I kind of kept semi-up to date upon, the impetus for writing an actual booklet on the topic was driven by two things. The first was a massive injury I sustained in Februrary of this year where I broke my fibula and tore two ligaments in my lower leg, necessitating major surgery. I'm only 5 months through what will be a year recovery at this point but, hey, it's an excuse to skip leg day for a while. The second was that, I couldn't find a single book on the topic that had been written since 1994 or so. Sure, there was some stuff online but none of it was comprehensive or detailed enough for me.Determined to optimize my own recovery, I was driven to delve into the research on the topic and figured I might as well write it up as a quick side project while the women's book is still being written. Hey, I've got hospital bills to pay.This is the result of that research. In it I examine the basics of muscle, tendon, ligament and bone along with the types of injuries that can occur to them (injuries to other tissues such as head trauma are not discussed). This leads into a discussion of various types of injuries and their consequences and I look briefly at the use of PRICES (Protection, Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation, Support) and anti-inflammatory drugs along with some of the controversy surrounding them.Primarily the book focuses on how nutrition integrates with the various stages of the recovery process. This includes detailed discussions of inflammatory modulating compounds, calorie intake, macro (and briefly, micro nutrient intake). I also look at supporting supplements that may be useful either in general or for specific types of tissue injuries. There is also a brief (I mean brief) discussion of drugs that have been studied or may help the recovery processes. Did I mention that this is brief?While not a book dedicated to the role of exercise and rehab, I do look a little bit at the issue, both in terms of early mobilization and active recovery. Primarily my focus is on how different aspects of nutrition integrate with activity since I cannot possibly lay out rehab progressions for every injury.Finally I'll show how it all fits together along with two hypothetical case studies. The first is just a plain-jane minor muscle pull and the second is my own recovery (still ongoing from my injury). I've provided selected references for those who want to delve deeper.In it I will discuss how to optimize nutrition for recovery from bone, ligament, tendon and muscular injuries. Topics include modulating inflammation, macronutrient and calorie intake along with information on supplements and drugs that can enhance the healing process. A brief section on activity following an injury will show how to integrate recovery activities with nutrition to enhance the effect of both. I also address some of the current controversy surrounding PRICES (Protection, Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation and Support) and the use of anti-inflammatory medications. The book contains two case studies, including my own experience, to show how all of the information fits together.Since injuries are part and parcel of being active, this book will give you all the nutrition information that you will need to bounce back as quickly as possible if you are injured.