There is more and more research coming out that suggests Mindfulness and Relaxation techniques can reduce pain and anxiety after injury. We have a few favorite apps at Active Hand Therapy that can help - Anyone in need of some Zen time?

Benefits Of Mindfulness

Seriously, the research is coming thick and fast for all the benefits of mindfulness. Even just 5 minutes a day has been proven to:

• Improve sleep
• Reduce anxiety
• Make you happier
• Increase your ability to cope with life
• Reduce your pain after injury
• Choose that perfect gift for your wife (please note, this is actually only wishful thinking)

Coping with an Injury

All injuries have different challenges but there is usually 

• Pain and discomfort
• Stress regarding healing or long term outcomes
• A change in routine either from favorite activities or work. 
• Time restraints to allow for healing in our busy lives

Sports injuries come with their own set of issues

• Pain and damage keeps an athlete from training, possibly leading to the anxiety of deconditioning.
• Medical appointments can take up valuable training time
• A sense of purpose can get lost if goals are suddenly unreachable. 
• The pressure of keeping up with your peers or lost opportunities due to injury can affect mood. 

Mindfulness can help adopt a 'Recovery Mindset'.

This is the ability to focus on getting your body better. Some useful tips to get you started:

• Stay connected to your friends. Use the extra down time to support your buddies and be a positive champion for others.
• Manage your pain. We no longer want patients to 'grin and bear it', keeping pain low, gets better results. 
• Get advice from the experts, you may not have to give up training or other activities. At Active Hand Therapy we have many, many modified exercises for you to try.
• Turn up to appointments - especially in the early phases. With good, engaged treatment, you will recover quicker and better and have less risk of reinjury. 
• Set some new goals. Therapists can help with this or just even taking the time to use some of that awesome mental discipline to reset and refocus.
• Try a little mindfulness - there is a lot of research that has now shown mindfulness can help with all of the above concerns. It may even help you improve other areas once your injury is healed!

SOME OF OUR FAVOURITE MINDFULNESS APPS 

Headspace 

This is our favourite to get started

• It is super easy to set up and really simple to use. 
• Free for the first 10 sessions which is a good start to try it out
• It has sessions for as little as 3 minutes! 
• Has a kids option

Smiling Mind 

Best if you want to get into mindfulness a bit more as it has many more options and longer sessions for free. 

• It is free! 
• It was developed in Australia 
• Lots of different mindfulness options
• The app feels a little bit confusing with so many options

Calm

This is super popular and is a good option if you find mindfulness 'boring' as it gives you more ways to connect with your body. 

• Very simple to use
• Lots of different mindfulness options
• Extras are included eg calming music, breath training, body postures 
• You have to agree to pay the yearly fee to get the free 7 day trial 

So if you or a loved one is feeling a bit stressed or you suddenly find yourself with a bit of down time - why not give it a try! Three minutes is all you need and you may just find a little bit of Zen. 

Written by Dee Coles