How Soccer Players Can Stay Mentally Strong During An Injury
In our interview with Katelyn Partridge (@nutritionwithkp), we asked her thoughts on how to help athletes recover faster and better from an injury.
“It is important to be as strong as you can in your mindset. It is a process, and you have to accept the process and enjoy it. How do you do that when you are dealing with any injury? The goal is to understand how much stronger and better you are going to come out on the other side of this injury. More often than not, athletes think they are going to backtrack and they are going to lose all their progress and think, “these players are going to be faster than me and better than me and I lost my starting position.”
But really, if you start working from the foundations and building up throughout your injury, you are going to be stronger when you come out the other side. Whether that is physically stronger, emotionally stronger, mentally stronger, you are going to be stronger when you come out on the other side of that injury.”
Recovering from an injury has been described as somewhat of an art form. There is a combination of many factors that must go into play to optimize recovery: proper rest, rehabilitation/movement/exercise, nutrition, mental strength, and proper medical care. And the pace of how this process goes is not a one-size-fits-all approach. But the main goal is to not let the process of recovery become overwhelming. Take it one day at a time, and always listen to your body and your doctor.
If you are on the lookout for some foods/supplements that are recommended to help the body heal from injuries, here is a list:
Protein: We cannot emphasize enough the importance of protein. Protein will help you not lose muscle while recovering, and it will allow your muscles to heal and regenerate faster.
Foods to implement: Grass-fed beef, wild-caught fish, turkey, eggs, chicken
Vitamin C: Eating a good amount of food that is rich in vitamin C will help boost your body’s production of collagen, which can help injuries heal faster.
Foods to implement: Leafy greens, berries, oranges, lemons, mangoes, berries, tomatoes
Zinc: Studies have been done that when the body has low levels of zinc, there can be a delay in healing.
Foods to implement: Nuts and seeds
Katelyn and Armando go into more detail about injury prevention and recovery in their latest interview. Watch here:
