Food sources include whey protein, lean meats, white fish or salmon, tuna or sardines, tofu or eggs, dairy foods, seeds and nuts, legumes and pulses including beans, chickpeas, soybeans and lentils. Distribute intake throughout the day.

Carbohydrates provide energy and fuel which helps protein usage, healing, and repair. Simultaneous carbohydrate and protein intake may inhibit muscle breakdown and atrophy. Daily amounts vary according to activity, with athletes generally requiring 3.

Ensure you are eating good carbs such as wholegrains, vegetables and fruit. Good fats help reduce inflammation which can slow down recovery, and can assist in cell membrane production, immune support and avoiding fatigue. You need good fats to absorb some key antioxidants and nutrients.

Studies have indicated that during recovery 0. Sources include salmon and tuna, seeds and nuts such as chia, sesame, linseeds flax , and their oils, and avocado, olive and coconut oil. Fibre assists with regular bowel function and gut health, helps with clearance of toxins and limiting weight gain.

Inactivity can also lead to constipation. Examples include whole grains, vegetables, fruit, and legumes. Anti-inflammatory foods provide antioxidants, immune support, fibre, vitamins and minerals.

Combine fruit, vegetables and spices into juices and smoothies, Examples carrot, apple, celery, spinach, pineapple, papaya, lemon, horseradish, ginger, cinnamon, turmeric.

Use the whole juice, do not strain. Sources include green leafy vegetables spinach, lettuce, chard , beetroot, bok choy, celery, garlic, onion, Chinese cabbage, and fruit such as apples, bananas, pears, kiwi fruit and oranges. Always approach supplementation as a risk benefit decision and seek professional advice if uncertain.

Good nutritional choices can greatly assist injury recovery, but best results are achieved when diet plans are tailored and personal to suit specific needs, individual physiology, nature of the injuries and dietary preferences. Speak to your nutritionist for guidance. Pamela Nelson is a Clinical Nutritionist, Naturopath and Herbalist at Health Space Clinic in Lane Cove.

active functional movement health tips Healthy lifestyle natropathy naturopath naturopathy nutrition nutrition advice Nutritionist sporting injuries. Pamela is a dedicated, qualified Naturopath, Nutritionist, and Herbalist at Health Space. She aims to help her clients achieve balance in all areas of their lives.

Get our top 3 resources to improving your upper and lower body mobility, plus our sleep essentials guide from our integrated team of health practitioners.

Do you have particular pain or symptoms but are not sure which health treatment or practitioner is right for you?

Please get in touch and one of our practitioner team will respond to you with personalised assistance. New Enquiry Patient Booking System.

Skip to content. Home Blog The Role of Nutrition in Sports Injury Recovery. Some goals in healing: Prevent or minimise loss of muscle tissue and function, and preserve lean body and bone mass Promote muscle protein synthesis Prevent excess weight gain and fat accrual during rehabilitation Mimimise time spent away from training Maintain energy production, protect immunity, and remain healthy physically and mentally Manage inflammation- following injury, an inflammatory response occurs which is key for healing.

Some early inflammation is expected and beneficial, but prolonged excessive inflammation can be harmful. Some nutritional musts for helping the healing Protein, especially those high in leucine.

Examples include whole grains, vegetables, fruit, and legumes Anti-inflammatory foods provide antioxidants, immune support, fibre, vitamins and minerals. What to reduce or avoid Saturated and trans fats, especially from fatty, processed meats, deli meats, fried foods, snack and junk food.

Many people think about injury recovery and immediately imagine physical therapy sessions and rehabilitation routines. The types of food we eat while healing can impact our recovery time frame, change our mood, and fuel the body for recovery.

Food should be viewed as a power source like a car needing proper fuel to run at its optimal level, and so should our bodies. Good nutrition for injury recovery is essential for achieving a speedy recovery. Plenty of different foods can help you recover from an injury, and these are some of the most beneficial.

When you are injured, it will trigger several responses, including an overall inflammation of the body. This happens as your body releases damaged cells, which stimulates an inflammatory immune response. This is a natural process, but if your body remains in a state of inflammation, it will seriously thwart your ability to heal.

Anti-inflammatory foods are one of the essential components of an injury recovery diet. Some great foods to choose for this purpose include:. In addition to these foods, you can enjoy drinks such as green tea and cook with extra virgin olive oil for an additional dose of anti-inflammatory power.

Integrating turmeric supplements into your diet can also have an anti-inflammatory effect. Protein contains essential amino acids that are important to preventing muscle atrophy and sustaining your energy levels. Luckily, there are plenty of foods that offer an abundance of protein to help you fuel your recovery:.

Combining lean protein, fresh fruits and vegetables, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats will properly fuel a healing body. Lean protein assists in rebuilding muscle, is more beneficial for your heart, and gives you the energy you need to heal. First, smoothies are an optimal option for alleviating constipation and nausea that often follow surgery.

Additionally, they can serve as a nutritional powerhouse, making it easy to pack the prebiotics and probiotics you may need. Some other great smoothie ingredients for injury recovery include:.

Mix in as many healthy ingredients as possible for a meal replacement to help you recover. You must consume protein and amino acids to maintain your muscle mass and avoid atrophy.

If you underwent surgery due to your injury, you might be dealing with side effects from the procedure. Common side effects include nausea, constipation, and a loss of healthy gut bacteria from post-surgical antibiotics.

Talk to your doctor about adopting a liquid diet for prebiotics or probiotics. However, some organic products that should be purchased when possible include strawberries, apples, nectarines, grapes, celery, spinach, and tomatoes.

These items are often grown using the most pesticides, which can easily be absorbed through the thin skins of these products. Organic farms typically use fewer pesticides, so purchasing these items will reduce your risk of putting harmful materials into your body when trying to heal.

When you eat sugar, your body must borrow vital nutrients from healthy cells to break down the food.

Athletes should be assessed for nutrient deficiencies, energy balance, lipid balance, optimal hydration, and sleep patterns. Nutritionists should monitor daily carbohydrate, protein, and fat intake, along with essential micronutrients like vitamins and minerals such as magnesium, zinc, and calcium.

Among these nutrients, protein plays a crucial role in recovery and rehabilitation. Protein as a Critical Nutrient Muscle protein synthesis MPS is vital for repairing damaged muscles and building new muscle tissue, making it a pivotal aspect of recovery. While the average daily protein requirement for a healthy individual ranges from grams, athletes engaged in high-intensity workouts have substantially higher protein needs, often between 1.

Types of Protein and Their Significanc e Amino acids constitute the building blocks of proteins and are classified as essential not produced by the body and must be obtained from the diet and non-essential produced by the body from other proteins.

Vegetarian diets may lack essential amino acids, potentially leading to protein deficits and slower recovery. The number of essential amino acids in a protein affects its biological value.

Proteins with all essential amino acids are considered high biological value proteins, while those lacking one or more are classified as low biological value proteins.

Plant-derived proteins like peas, beans, or nuts typically fall into the low biological value category, whereas meat, fish, poultry, and dairy offer high biological value proteins. Whey Protein for Early Recovery Whey protein, derived from milk, is a high biological value protein containing amino acids necessary for muscle repair and recovery.

It facilitates MPS and possesses anti-inflammatory properties due to bioactive peptides, aiding faster recovery by scavenging free radicals and reducing oxidative stress during injury.

Incorporating counseling, appropriate rest, supervised activity, rehabilitation, and a protein source like whey or other high biological value proteins can lead to more efficient, complete, and rapid recovery from sports injuries.

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National Nutrition Month® is a campaign created by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, focusing on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits.

Whether it be wound care, post-injury healing or everyday soreness from exercise, here are some evidence-based perspectives to help you guide your athletes, your patients or yourself through the landscape of nutritional choices throughout the healing process.

While you might not view wound care as an energy-draining process, the body actually demands an increased amount of energy so the wound can heal correctly. While the nutritional needs of patients will vary based on age, comorbidities, body weight, activity level, stage of the healing process and the severity, size and number of wounds, experts recommend caloric intake start at kcal per kg of body weight.

These experts also recommend focusing on the correct micro and macronutrients that are critical to maintain appropriate levels of energy to support the entire healing process.

Carbohydrates: In the proliferative phase of wound healing, carbohydrates stimulate insulin production, which is helpful in the anabolic processes. Fats: Substantial fat consumption supplies additional energy to the wound healing process, as well as structural functions during tissue growth.

One key role of protein is the maintenance of oncotic pressure, particularly in venous insufficiency wounds, where excess extraluminal pressure due to peripheral edema will exacerbate wound formation and slow wound healing. Fluids: Fluid maintains skin turgor and promotes tissue perfusion and oxygenation during the wound healing process.

The goal for fluid intake in patients with wounds is approximately 1 ml per kcal each day. Arginine: The amino acid arginine plays a diverse role in wound healing. Arginine supplementation was observed to increase collagen deposition in wounds.

Glutamine: Glutamine, another amino acid, decreases infectious complications and protects against inflammatory injury by inducing the expression of heat shock proteins. Additionally, glutamine appears to have a role in leukocyte apoptosis, superoxide production, antigen processing, and phagocytosis, all with implications on the inflammatory phase of wound healing.

Vitamine A: Vitamin A assists in wound closure. Topically-applied vitamin A has been used to stimulate epithelial growth, fibroblasts, and ground substance. Vitamin C: Vitamin C is believed to influence collagen formation, immunomodulation and antioxidant functions during wound healing. Vitamin D: Vitamin D induces the antimicrobial peptide cathelicidin to promote healing.

Zinc: More than zinc-containing enzymes, including superoxide dismutase, are involved in wound healing. However, excess zinc supplementation can interfere with the absorption of other cations, specifically iron and copper. Therefore, supplementation should be avoided unless deficiency is present.

After suffering a musculoskeletal injury, the proper nutritional support can help the body regain optimal fuel for rehabilitation. Here are some of her top tips Delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS, may not be as serious of an ailment or require a long recovery like wounds or musculoskeletal injuries.

Still, this natural result of regular exercise can be both healed and prevented by proper nutrition. In one review of nutritional intervention for DOMS , researchers reviewed four nutrients that have been suggested to aide sore muscles:. As you can tell from these recommendations, maintaining a healthy, balanced diet is not only conductive to maintaining weight and building muscle.

It is not as simple as just how many calories you are ingesting, rather quality, variety, and excellent macro- and micronutrient distribution is important.

A RDN can assist in building a plan that includes high quality foods. Hoogenboom is a professor and an associate program chair at Grand Valley State University, in the Department of Physical Therapy. She was one of the first Board Certified Sports Clinical Specialists in West Michigan in , and has since been recertified twice by the ABPTS, most recently in She has been a Certified Athletic Trainer since She maintains a clinical practice by volunteering at the GVSU Pro Bono clinic.

Barb is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association and a member of the American Academy of Sports Physical Therapy, where she has been honored with the Academy's highest award, The Ron Peyton Award, and is also a member of the Turner A.

Blackburn Sports Physical Therapy Hall of Fame. She also received the "Lifetime Excellence in Education" award from the AASPT. She is a member of the Female Athlete Triad Coalition, and The Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine.

Barb enjoys clinical research, and has authored many research and clinical commentary articles on the female athlete, nutrition, functional movement, and movement analysis.

She has contributed to 10 textbooks and 5 Home Study Courses on various musculoskeletal topics.

Maturation occurs from three weeks to two years post-injury depending on severity of injury. During this phase of recovery, considerable remodeling occurs to build a stronger tissue structure.

Based on these healing processes, we can divide nutrition recommendations into two phases: Injury and immobilization, or inflammation and proliferation of healing.

Most of the muscle loss occurs during this phase. Rehabilitation, or maturation of healing. Exercise is re-introduced in the form of therapy, and athletes are advanced to full practice when they are cleared by trained medical staff.

When using crutches, energy expenditure can be two to three times higher compared to normal walking. Sometimes a small weight gain is beneficial because, without enough calories, muscle growth is limited and muscle loss can be greater.

Protein: During the immobilization phase there is a tendency to lose muscle mass, which then causes an athlete to lose strength. Protein helps athletes to build and repair muscle; therefore, the need for protein is higher.

The precise number of grams needed each day is very individual. However, following an injury that limits activity, carbohydrate intake can be slightly lowered to prevent excessive weight gain. Sports beverages, gels, sodas and concentrated sweets are highly discouraged during this time.

Fat: Fats are essential for healing, and the type of fat is critical. Omega 3s found mainly in fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel or tuna help to increase muscle protein synthesis muscle building , as well as play a role with recovery and decreasing inflammation.

Vitamins and minerals during immobilization Vitamin C: Assists with wound healing, tissue repair and optimal immune function. Foods rich in vitamin C include: citrus fruit, strawberries, red bell peppers, watermelon, etc.

Vitamin A: Assists with cell growth and development, as well as immune function. Examples of foods rich in vitamin A include sweet potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, papaya — orange and red fruits and vegetables.

Zinc: Assists with wound healing, protein synthesis and immune function. Good choices of foods for getting enough zinc include: beef, almonds, seeds such as sunflower, flax and pumpkin seeds and seafood.

Studies have indicated that during recovery 0. Sources include salmon and tuna, seeds and nuts such as chia, sesame, linseeds flax , and their oils, and avocado, olive and coconut oil. Fibre assists with regular bowel function and gut health, helps with clearance of toxins and limiting weight gain.

Inactivity can also lead to constipation. Examples include whole grains, vegetables, fruit, and legumes. Anti-inflammatory foods provide antioxidants, immune support, fibre, vitamins and minerals. Combine fruit, vegetables and spices into juices and smoothies, Examples carrot, apple, celery, spinach, pineapple, papaya, lemon, horseradish, ginger, cinnamon, turmeric.

Use the whole juice, do not strain. Sources include green leafy vegetables spinach, lettuce, chard , beetroot, bok choy, celery, garlic, onion, Chinese cabbage, and fruit such as apples, bananas, pears, kiwi fruit and oranges.

Always approach supplementation as a risk benefit decision and seek professional advice if uncertain. Good nutritional choices can greatly assist injury recovery, but best results are achieved when diet plans are tailored and personal to suit specific needs, individual physiology, nature of the injuries and dietary preferences.

Speak to your nutritionist for guidance. Pamela Nelson is a Clinical Nutritionist, Naturopath and Herbalist at Health Space Clinic in Lane Cove. active functional movement health tips Healthy lifestyle natropathy naturopath naturopathy nutrition nutrition advice Nutritionist sporting injuries.

Pamela is a dedicated, qualified Naturopath, Nutritionist, and Herbalist at Health Space. She aims to help her clients achieve balance in all areas of their lives.

Get our top 3 resources to improving your upper and lower body mobility, plus our sleep essentials guide from our integrated team of health practitioners. Do you have particular pain or symptoms but are not sure which health treatment or practitioner is right for you? Please get in touch and one of our practitioner team will respond to you with personalised assistance.

New Enquiry Patient Booking System. Skip to content. Home Blog The Role of Nutrition in Sports Injury Recovery. Some goals in healing: Prevent or minimise loss of muscle tissue and function, and preserve lean body and bone mass Promote muscle protein synthesis Prevent excess weight gain and fat accrual during rehabilitation Mimimise time spent away from training Maintain energy production, protect immunity, and remain healthy physically and mentally Manage inflammation- following injury, an inflammatory response occurs which is key for healing.

First, smoothies are an optimal option for alleviating constipation and nausea that often follow surgery. Additionally, they can serve as a nutritional powerhouse, making it easy to pack the prebiotics and probiotics you may need. Some other great smoothie ingredients for injury recovery include:.

Mix in as many healthy ingredients as possible for a meal replacement to help you recover. You must consume protein and amino acids to maintain your muscle mass and avoid atrophy.

If you underwent surgery due to your injury, you might be dealing with side effects from the procedure. Common side effects include nausea, constipation, and a loss of healthy gut bacteria from post-surgical antibiotics.

Talk to your doctor about adopting a liquid diet for prebiotics or probiotics. However, some organic products that should be purchased when possible include strawberries, apples, nectarines, grapes, celery, spinach, and tomatoes.

These items are often grown using the most pesticides, which can easily be absorbed through the thin skins of these products.

Organic farms typically use fewer pesticides, so purchasing these items will reduce your risk of putting harmful materials into your body when trying to heal. When you eat sugar, your body must borrow vital nutrients from healthy cells to break down the food.

Calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium are taken from various parts of the body to make use of sugar. When recovering from injury, you need these vital minerals and nutrients to expedite the healing process and shorten your recovery, rather than wasting them on digesting unhealthy foods.

Nutrition and injury recovery go hand in hand. Your body uses everything you put into it — for good or bad. Next time you eat, think about how your body will use it as fuel and its impact on you.

Keeping this in mind will help you make healthier choices, and it will help you to recover from illness or injury as quickly as possible.