An injury can be debilitating. It’s even worse when the injury forces you to drop your usual workout program for a while. Whether you’re an enthusiastic gym goer or a professional athlete, there’s no way around it: An injury sucks. But it’s not the end of your love story with sports. Just because you can’t go back to hitting the ball or the road, right now, doesn’t mean that you can’t do any physical activity at all… or that you can’t satisfy your interest for sports in any other way. Here are four ways to make the most of your recovery time without losing your connection with sports.

Broken ankle

Keep it friendly during your recovery

If the injury is not too handicapping, you can probably still take part to some friendly sports matches between friends – assuming that you pick friends who wouldn’t normally share your fitness level. You can still enjoy competition and a good game between friends if you take things easy. Badminton is a good way to keep moving without pushing yourself too much, so it’s a brilliant choice to play with a friend. If this is too much, or too painful for now, maybe you’ll enjoy a game of football. If you remember your classics, Joey and Chandler used to adore their foosball table, and you can have a great time with it too. Also, here’s a hint to make it work: Keep your ducks and chicks away from the foosball table, they don’t go well together!

Keep yourself informed

At the beginning of your recovery journey, you may find that you can’t move much, especially if it’s been a rather serious injury. Be patient; you’ll gain your mobility and your strength back. In the meantime, you can still down with a nice cup of coffee and enjoy the latest football articles online. It’s not quite like playing, for now, but it’s still great to keep in touch with your favorite sports. Don’t worry if you’re not a football fan. There are plenty of specialist resources dedicated to the latest news for basketball, cycling, running and much more.

Be zen and learn to take time

You can find it difficult to train while you recover from an injury, but there’s one thing that you can do to maintain your muscle mass: Yoga. Yoga can provide significant healing advantages, as it creates a new relationship with your body. Suddenly you are in a position where you listen to your body, and you understand its needs and its potential at a deeper level. Using yoga as a stretching routine will help you to keep your muscles active without straining them or making the injury worse. But more importantly, it will make it easier for you to go back to your previous performance after the recovery period.

Yoga

Coach someone

Some injuries are too terrible for you to go back to your old self. Sometimes, while you can still perform, you’ll never gain back the strength you’ve lost. But your experience and your knowledge can be useful to someone else. If you can’t practice anymore, maybe you can coach. Naturally, you’ll need to prove your worth, but it’s about knowledge and not physical abilities. So you can become a great coach for an athlete or at a school even after an injury.

Your love of sports never disappears, even after an injury. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to keep yourself active, involved and engaged without risking further health backlash.