Sidelined? Follow these guidelines. 

By Alyssa Shaffer

When injuries happen, it’s often hard to know the best path to recovery. “Every real injury has to go through a few stages before you can return to play,” says Dr. Vijay Vad, a sports medicine specialist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. Vad outlines his guidelines to help you through the stages of injury.

Step 1: Control the pain. Ice the affected area (20 minutes on, 20 off) for the first 48 hours and take three to four anti-inflammatories, like Motrin or Advil, twice a day, as long as your doctor says it’s OK. After 48 hours, use heat in the morning and ice at night, Vad says.

Step 2: Focus on recovery. Strength, flexibility and endurance exercises are key to helping your injury heal; ask your doctor or therapist which ones you should be doing. For a sprain or torn muscle, the recovery phase can take 4–8 weeks.

Step 3: Get on the court. Practicing some sports-specific conditioning (simple drills, side-to-side movement) even without playing will help you return to form faster, Vad says. You may have to stay at this stage for 2–4 weeks before really hitting the court.

Step 4: Game on. Once you have full pain-free range of motion, you can pick up your racquet and gradually start playing again.