Jonathan Collier Injury Rehabilitation

Continuing on from my previous blog post as to how, in so many ways, your therapist can help you (https://www.jcinjuryrehabilitation.co.uk/how-can-a-sportrehabilitator-help-me) today we're talking about all things nutrition. More specifically as to why it is important during successful injury rehabilitation.

During rehabilitation, the primary goal is to achieve the fastest healing and to return to competition, using the most effective resources, where nutrition is an important component. After injury or surgery, it is the critical time to improve someone’s eating attitudes and behaviors, which lead towards the healing process and/or enhance performance afterward

To keep it basic let's split nutrition down into 3 key components: Proteins Carbs and Fats.

Protein:
Compensating anabolic resistance and aiming at optimizing the anabolic response to protein
consumption, in order to preserve muscle mass, and avoid body fat gain, are nutritional challenges. A higher protein intake is related to muscle mass retention. During recovery from injury, maintaining adequate protein intake, while manipulating the amount and the type of protein but also the difference between the rapidly to the more slowly digested proteins in the nutritional plan is of crucial importance. Overall, an increase in 30-40g of protein intake per day for an injured person is hugely beneficial to assist with muscle and tissue recovery.

Carbohydrates:
The level of endogenous carbohydrates availability is known to affect protein synthesis and skeletal muscles during exercise. Low levels of carbohydrates influence protein degradation, increase muscle protein breakdown, and reduce net protein balance, especially in conditions of low muscle glycogen compared with high-glycogen availability. Therefore, this suggests that an inadequate level of carbohydrates decreases the body's ability to absorb protein and retain muscle mass.

Fats:
According to recent data, fish oil-derived omega-3 fatty acid supplementation may be beneficial to the injured person, having anti-inflammatory properties. Among healthy individuals of all ages, long-chain supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids at dosage 4 g/day increased anabolic sensitivity to amino acids and the response of muscle protein synthesis to hyperinsulinemia-hyperaminoacidemia, resulting in increased muscle cell size. Interestingly, it has been highlighted that, that the consumption of a Mediterranean diet and extra virgin olive oil can help to attenuate
and overcome inflammation after injury in the articular cartilage, preventing osteoarthritis. We all know that there good fats and bad fats. The fats you'll find in a salmon fillet will be more beneficial to you and your body than the fats you'll find in a Big Mac with double cheese and chips (other burgers are available). But it is the quality of nutrition and the goal-specific timing that is key. What you need to be consuming and the reasons why.

This is just a very small snippet of the levels in which nutritional and supplementation information can support your overall recovery. Be sure to discuss this with your therapist at your next appointment. Rest isn't rehab.

JPC