Breathing is a fundamental aspect of life yet is often overlooked when it comes to healing and recovery. At seventy9 Sports Therapy, a leading sports injury clinic in Guildford, we understand the influence that good breathing techniques can have on the restorative process, especially during the recovery phase of sports injury. In this blog, we will explore the restorative benefits of breathing and how it plays a vital role in your journey to sports injury recovery.
The Power of Breath
Breathing is a natural and essential bodily function. It’s the process that supplies our cells with life-sustaining oxygen while eliminating waste in the form of carbon dioxide. But beyond the basic biological functioning of breathing, the mechanism and consciousness of the way you breathe can significantly impact your body’s ability to heal and recover from sports injuries.
Restorative Benefits of Breathing
Reduction of Stress and Tension
Breathing exercises can stimulate your relaxation response, reducing the production of stress hormones like cortisol. This in turn can help alleviate muscle tension and promote a sense of calm. Lower stress levels can be associated with improved recovery from sports injuries. Whether we call this meditation or conscious, deep breathing, spending some time focussing on your breath has long been associated with having a positive influence on stress.
Improved Blood Flow and Oxygen Delivery
Conscious, deep breathing can enhance circulation, ensuring that oxygen and vital nutrients are transported to injured tissues in an effective and efficient manner. This can help to accelerate the body’s natural healing process and can have a positive influence on recovery time. This is not just important during your recovery from a sports injury. It can also be of benefit generally, since the way we drive training adaptation is by overloading muscles, creating “damage” and subsequent adaptation in the recovery phase post training session. By promoting better breathing techniques and a focus on conscious, deep breathing as a part of your post-training recovery, our team at seventy9 Sports Therapy, a leading sports injury clinic in Guildford, provide an additional layer of recovery stimulus so that your next training session is as effective as it can be.
Enhanced Oxygenation
Injuries can often lead to restricted movement and shallow breathing, both during daily activities and under exercise stress. This can limit the efficiency of oxygen delivery to injured tissues as well as the muscles that are under load during exercise. A rehabilitation programme that focuses on better breathing techniques can help improve diaphragm function, increase breathing depth and positively influence general and exercise loaded breathing techniques.
Enhanced Pain Management
Focussed breathing techniques can help shift attention away from pain. This not only provides a temporary sense of relief but can also positively influence your perception of pain over time. It also adds to your pain management tool box alongside other basic principles we lean on at seventy9 Sports Therapy in Guildford, such as good movement principles.
Better Sleep Quality
Quality sleep is essential for recovery, both from the sports injuries that we see at our sports injury clinic in Guildford, but also after bouts of training. Deep breathing can help to induce relaxation and help improve sleep quality, ensuring your body has the rest it needs to repair and rebuild damaged tissues, either after a sports injury or prior to your next training session.
Improved Mental Focus
Conscious breathing can help enhance mental clarity and focus – as well as helping you to stay present – enabling you to stay focussed on the process of your rehabilitation regime set out by our sports injury specialists at seventy9 Sports Therapy in Guildford. Good conscious breathing practice can also bleed over into sports performance and task performance (such as in an exam or important work based tasks) as it can be used as a cue to stimulate focus.
Incorporating Breath-work into your Recovery
To harness the restorative benefits of breathing, consider these practical steps:
Mindful Breathing: Set aside a few minutes each day for mindful breathing exercises. Focus on slow, deep breaths, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth. This can be done lying down, sitting, or even during a mobility session.
Guided Meditation: Utilising guided meditation that is centred around the breath can help improve the consistency of your breathing practice. At seventy9 Sports Therapy in Guildford, we are big fans of Headspace as a highly accessible and effective guided meditation tool.
Professional Guidance: Consider seeing a trained professional, such as our team at seventy9 Sports Therapy in Guildford who can tailor breathing exercises to your specific recovery needs.
Breathing at Our Sports Injury Clinic in Guildford
At seventy9 Sports Therapy, a leading sports injury clinic in Guildford, we recognise the importance of proper breathing techniques and their place as an integral part of the recovery process. Our experienced sports therapists can help you understand good and effective breathing techniques, as well as create a programme to help you improve these techniques for better implementation in your daily life as well as during sport and exercise.
Each individual patient’s recovery journey is unique, therefore we tailor our treatment and rehabilitation process to their specific needs. By incorporating breath-work into your rehabilitation programme, we can help to optimise the recovery process, reduce pain and stress, and promote overall well-being.
Why not see how our sports injury clinic in Guildford can incorporate the power of breath into your recovery strategy? Contact us today or book an appointment online and experience the transformative benefits of conscious breathing.