Some inactivity is great and replenishes empty energy reserves – I hope you get time to chill out this summer. But there is also forced inactivity, through injury perhaps, which can be more intense and 24/7, which is not so beneficial.
A new study has just been published in the Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, concluding that a fortnight of inactivity causes ‘rapid loss of muscle mass and strength’.
“…. in fact it’ll take you three times the amount of time you were inactive to regain the muscle mass that you’ve lost,” says researcher Martin Gram, PhD.
This is an important consideration for people with injuries and highlights the need to keep training the non-injured areas to prevent overall drop in fitness and muscle loss (ie for an ankle sprain or other lower limb injuries, you should still look to train the upper body or introduce activities which do not aggravate the injury such as swimming or targeted strength training).
If you are injured and need some help, get in touch – we are experts in rehabilitation.