Physiotherapy is one of the most effective ways to prevent muscle injury. Trained physiotherapists can help to keep your muscles in the best shape, which is necessary not only for athletes, but for your general day-to-day life. Physio visits are not cheap, and can really start to add up if you make it a regular thing. This is where you might want to seek alternatives, such as using recovery tools and equipment at home, especially if you are on a budget. Read on to understand the benefits of recovery equipment, including how they’re a budget-friendly alternative to costly physiotherapy visits.
What is recovery?
Recovery refers to actions taken to maximise your body’s repair including; hydration, nutrition, posture, heat, ice, stretching, self-myofascial release and stress management.
Recovery after exercise allows the body to replenish energy and repair damaged tissue. Not only this, but with the correct recovery in place this helps the body feel great as the muscles are stretched and relaxed. Recovery time gives the muscles time to heal and rebuild themselves stronger.
What is recovery training?
Rest and recovery are both an important part of any training routine, and if you are well into fitness and social media, you might have seen the sudden surge of people rolling around on foam rollers or innovative stretching devices. These devices are a popular part of many peoples recovery routine and typically come in the form of foam rollers or a massage gun.
This should be a key part of your training to ease muscle soreness, improve circulation and help prevent future injury. It will have huge effects on your body if you can keep it up regularly, rather than using it just as a one off treatment.
Buying one recovery product which you can use on a daily basis from the comfort of your own home will be much more cost effective than paying each time to see a physio.
What do recovery tools do?
Recovery tools work by providing myofascial release, which is simply a technique where pressure is applied to trigger points to relax contracted muscles.
The main benefits of recovery tools are:
- Eased muscle soreness
- Improved flexibility
- Improved mobility
- Increased circulation
- Break up of scar tissue
They are also extremely portable so can be used anywhere. So if you’re trying to save the pennies by working out at the park instead of the gym, you can easily bring your recovery equipment with you to cool your muscles down on the go.
We won’t claim a machine is better than the professionals, but it certainly is an effective alternative! Many physios will use recovery tools in their clinics anyway, so you may want to get your hands on your own.
Enjoy stretching!
This is a collaborative post.