Physical therapy helps people of all ages who have medical conditions, illnesses, or injuries that limit their regular ability to move and function. A customized physical therapy program can help individuals return to their prior level of functioning, and encourage activities and lifestyle changes that can help prevent further injury and improve overall health and wellbeing. Primary care doctors often refer patients to physical therapy at the first sign of a problem, since it is considered a conservative approach to managing pain and recovery. Physical therapy eliminates pain, increases the level of mobility, helps avoid surgery and medications, and benefits your overall health.
It is important to know what your body needs in order to function at its best, so here is what you should eat before and after a physical therapy session:
Pre-exercise:
You know your own body the best, right? Everyone is different in how long their digestion takes. Allow the meal to be fully digested before starting exercise, as doing so will decrease the chance for stomach upset due to undigested food in the gastrointestinal tract. If you know something doesn’t sit well in your stomach, don’t include it in your pre-workout regimen. It’s best to eat a well-balanced meal (protein, complex carbohydrates, and fats) about 2-3 hours before exercise.
Before exercising, it is definitely not recommended to chow down on sugary items, because your blood sugar will try to overcompensate, and plummet just before or even during exercise. If so, your workout won’t be the greatest. Eating something like one to two pieces of whole grain toast with mashed avocado and egg on them, or oatmeal with nuts/seeds and some fruit are both well-balanced meals and will keep your energy sustained through your workout. If this is too long before exercise for a meal, you can also include a quick, small snack such as a banana or a handful of nuts in the hour before exercise to hold you over.
Post-exercise:
We make little micro-tears in our muscles while exercising, and deplete the muscle of some or all of its stored glucose, (muscle glycogen: carbohydrates), which is the primary fuel your muscles use for energy production. Since it is necessary to refuel our muscles after exercise, eating a meal or snack with protein and carbohydrates within 30-60 minutes of exercise will optimize the rate at which proteins and glycogen are absorbed into the muscle.
If you wait longer than an hour after exercise to eat, your muscles might not recover as quick as they would with a meal consumed soon after exercise. So, it is best to eat as quickly as possible after exercising. Plain yogurt (2 percent or whole milk yogurt) with berries is a suggested post-workout meal. A smoothie with any fruit or greens is also considered a nutritious post-workout snack, as is 1-2 slices of toast with natural peanut/almond butter and a little bit of honey.
Hydration:
Don’t forget to hydrate! Sweating during exercise depletes our bodies of water, which is vital for proper functioning. Just think about a car without gas in the tank – it doesn’t really run right without it. That’s the same for your body without water. And being made of about 60-70 percent water, we need to be constantly hydrating. Drink periodically during your exercise regimen and continue to drink on a schedule following exercise. An added tip: Fruit juice (and veggies) high in vitamin C help tremendously with muscle recovery, while also hydrating the body.
To learn more about the benefits of physical therapy, and what to eat during and after your physical therapy session, call the offices of the Auto & Work Injury Walk-in Clinic at 210-342-2777 to request an appointment, or use our online request form.
