Whether you suffer from an injury or an inflammatory condition like arthritis in any of your limbs, you may be surprised to hear that among the list of home remedies is movement. Yes, you need to rest, and alternate between ice and heat as your doctor recommends. But you also need to get up and use the limb that is causing you so much pain.

Why should you exercise when you’re injured? We explain this phenomenon below and help you learn why movement is such great medicine.

When you move around, you cause blood to flow into the injured area of your body. Blood is life. It delivers nutrients such as oxygen (which we’ll talk about in detail in the next point) to cells and tissues all over the body. This is a great thing when you’re hurt, and movement ensures that your blood gets where it needs to go to promote your body’s natural healing processes. 

Sometimes, fluid may collect in the injured limb because of some trauma that was inflicted on the affected area. To reduce the swelling, once again, you need to move around. Elevating the limb also helps prevent fluid from building up. 

Oxygen is heavily involved in your body’s natural healing processes. It helps restore and revitalize damaged cells. 

As you move around and breathe deeply, you take in more oxygen. This oxygen is then transported all over your body, as well as to your injury, by the blood. This benefit as well as the first one goes hand in hand for obvious reasons. Better blood flow means more effective overall distribution of healing oxygen.

When you’re hurt, the temptation is to sit or remain still all day and night, and not move a muscle. But your strength in the affected area is already compromised by your injury. Imagine how much weaker it will become if you don’t even move it around. Your muscles will become weaker, and by the time you recover you may find that you can barely use it at all.

That’s why movement is important: it helps you rebuild and keep up your strength and prevents any injured muscles from atrophying.

But how, you may wonder, do you keep your injury or inflamed limb stable while you’re exercising it? The answer is, by wearing a Koprez compression garment.

Compression is one of the most beneficial practices you will ever do for your injury. Our snug sleeves hug the limb, promoting increased blood flow and oxygen, and a lessening of swelling They also keep your limb stable so that you don’t risk hurting yourself even more.

If you’re suffering from a twist, sprain, torn muscle, or arthritis in your arms or legs, use a Koprez compression sleeve to speed up healing and manage your pain.