Whether a person plays sports professionally or just for fun, the inevitable is sure to happen sooner or later. The sports injury. While it is a pain (literally), it is quite possible to recover from an injury just using natural healing. Be aware that not all injuries fall under the umbrella of natural healing, such as open fractures or a severe tear that requires surgery. Other injuries that have to do with soft tissues, such as ligaments, tendons and muscles can be put on the road to recovery quite quickly if a few simple steps are followed. Let’s take a look at some of the natural ways that sports injuries can be healed.

Nutrition is nature’s greatest healer. Often we don’t think of food as being something that can heal our bodies, but as a matter of fact it is a key player in our body functions. Eating the wrong stuff can cause the body to rebel against itself and cause more damage, but the right food eaten in the right quantities can have amazing results. In particular the super foods that contain antioxidants have almost magical healing powers for the body. These include fruits and veggies like blueberries, concord grapes, pomegranate and even the dark leafy vegetable kale. Every effort should be made to eat these in their raw form as much as possible to get the maximum benefits for healing.

Apply natural salves and ointments. A few of the really good ones out there are arnica for bruising, peppermint oil for swelling of joints and tea tree oil which has astringent properties. Other supplements can be taking orally such as omega-3 fatty acid (fish oil), Vitamins E and C. All help in the natural process of healing injury within the body.

Acupuncture. Not often talked about, acupuncture is a traditional Chinese healing procedure that involves the insertion of tiny needles subdermally into reflex points along the body. It is very effective in the natural healing process.

Deep Tissue Massage or Sports Massage. Both these types of massage assist with healing of soft tissue related to a sports injury. Expect the therapist to give a more intense massage than normal and to spend extended time at the site of the injury to aid in the healing process. Usually, this type of massage is done regularly to assist in speeding up the healing of the sports injury.

All these natural ways of healing a sports injury are excellent for those who perhaps don’t want to get involved with using traditional medicinal ways of healing. The injured individual does not have to rely on prescription drugs (which can often slow down healing time), or endure a grueling surgery and weeks of physical therapy. Used in combination with each other, natural healing of sports injured individuals can have them back playing their sport quicker than ever. Natural medicine is gaining more and more popularity over traditional methods, and it can help people recover much quicker than other medicinal methods out there today.