Why you should still train with an injured limb

It is common as a trainer that you’ll have a client cancel his or her session because they rolled an ankle, developed tennis elbow, or a number of other single sided injuries or woes. We often remind clients that they still have three other healthy, working limbs. There’s still plenty we can do from a trainer’s perspective. The client will often protest, “No, I think it’s better I rest and return after I’ve healed.” As trainers, we intuitively know that this is the wrong approach.

The client may also worry, “Won’t training my uninjured side cause imbalances?” Turns out, according to science, the answer is a resounding NO. It is quite the opposite, in fact. Studies show that training your uninjured limbs will actually have a systemic effect that can help the injured limb maintain strength and muscle AND potentially heal faster. The body is one unit after all, so it makes sense that continuing to stimulate your uninjured limbs would assist the entire system in the healing process.

Administrators of studies that demonstrate this finding theorize that the maintenance of muscle/strength and the potential improvement in healing is likely attributed to the nervous system. Strength training doesn’t just strengthen the individual muscles being targeted in a particular system, it helps strengthen the entire nervous system. This in turn helps make the healing process more efficient and effective.

So next time you injure a limb, whether it’s achiness, sprains, strains, bruising, etc., don’t resort to calling it quits for the time being. Use it as an opportunity to help yourself heal faster and make the process of building back your strength in your injured limb easier by continuing to train your three other working limbs! You’ll thank your future self.

Sources:

Andrushko JW, Lanovaz JL, Björkman KM, Kontulainen SA, Farthing JP. Unilateral strength training leads to muscle-specific sparing effects during opposite homologous limb immobilization. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2018 Apr 1;124(4):866-876. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00971.2017. Epub 2017 Dec 14. PMID: 29357520; PMCID: PMC5972467.

Unilateral strength training leads to muscle-specific sparing effects during opposite homologous limb immobilization

Justin W. Andrushko, Joel L. Lanovaz, Kelsey M. Björkman, Saija A. Kontulainen, and Jonathan P. Farthing

Journal of Applied Physiology 2018 124:4, 866-876