What's In Our Family Recovery Basket?

Last football season I shared our family's rehab/recovery basket on my IG stories. You had a lot of questions about what we use each item for (specifically) so I thought I would create a post breaking it all down. Whether you have youth athletes at home or you are an athlete yourself or you are just striving to feel your best in whatever training program you're currently following you'll want to save this post to refer back to.

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What is a Recovery Basket?

It's a term I've given the place where we store all things rehab, recovery, and injury prevention. Between the five of us we've experienced plantar fasciitis, growing pains, tennis elbow, dislocated fingers, a few broken bones, cartilage damage, etc. With injuries you learn... we've learned. I'm excited to share everything that we believe to be the best forms of at-home self treatment.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, nor am I offering health advice. Consider seeing a professional in the field of your pain/injury before experimenting with anything listed in this post. Listed below are my personal experiences and opinions.

For Your Muscles: doTERRA Deep Blue Rub

How to use it: This product is similar to Tiger Balm or Icy Hot, but with better ingredients and better results. Rub on your joints or muscles when you are feeling sore or achy. When I get knots in my traps or my tennis elbow starts acting up, I rub on a thorough amount, wait 5-10 minutes and then stretch and foam roll. Giving it some time to heat up will allow your muscles to warm up and begin to relax. One of our sons used Deep Blue on his knees when he was experiencing crippling growing pains. Now, he continues to use it to warm up his leg muscles before track meets. We love this product!

Speed Recovery: Hydragun

This gun works great when used on sore muscles. The high speed percussion helps to get the blood flowing for faster recovery. I also like to use it before running as I find that it wakes up my sleepy muscles.

Speed Recovery/Healing Process: Chattanoogas ColPac Gel Ice Pack

Every home needs this ice pack! A physical therapist friend of mine recommended this one to us and I'm so glad he did. We use this ice pack pretty much daily. It's a large size and molds to the shape of your body which is really nice when you need something to cover a large portion of your body like your shoulder, for example. It's also great to wrap around your elbow, knee, ankle, etc.

Pro Tip: To keep the ice pack from directly touching your skin, consider putting the pack inside an old pillowcase before placing it on your body.

Side note: it also works great when you want to keep your food cold in a cooler. We may or may not have taken ours with us on road trips and youth sporting games. 🤫

For Bruises & Minor Injury: Arnicare Gel

This homeopathic gel has been great to have on hand especially during football season when the boys get pretty banged up, but also for minor incidents around the house. The other day, I accidentally kicked the crap out of the extension step to my car and I just knew I would have a monster bruise right on the middle of my shin. However, I used Arnicare and never had a bruise, just a small knot that is gradually going away.

Better Rest: Raise Them Well, Magnesium Roller

Studies show that magnesium is superior when it comes to rest and recovery. Our six year old loves rolling this on the bottoms of her feet at night and we love that it helps her to sleep well at night.

For Minor Injuries & Joint Support: KT Tape

We've used these a ton over the years for our oldest sons growing pains (knees). You don't need to be a physical therapist to use these – each box comes with instructions on exactly how and where to lay the strips based on your needs. We found that KT tape helps give our joints just enough support to help us stay active and in less pain.

Minor Injuries: Athletic Tape

We always keep athletic tape in stock because you never know when there might be a strained finger or a rolled ankle. When shopping for athletic tape consider your team colors. You might have a very uniform coach that wants specific colors only.

For Tight Muscles: TPT Grid X Foam Roller

This foam roller is extra firm. If you are new to foam rolling, I would suggest starting off with a softer roller like the TPT original roller. With that said, if your roller doesn't seem to be having an effect anymore, that might be an indication that you're ready for a firmer roller like the Grid X.

Tight Muscles & Knots: Trigger Point Therapy

About 10 years ago, I was introduced to Trigger Point Therapy and I immediately signed up for a coaches training to learn more. There are so many ways to use these tools which you will find in the pamphlet provided with your purchase. These are the best for relieving tight lats, shins and mid-to-upper back.

Improve Flexibility: Stretching Rope

We are all guilty of skipping out on the post-workout stretch, but let's do better! Turn on your latest Netflix binge of choice episode, plop on the floor and hold some stretches. Did you know the most common reason for low-back pain is from tight hamstrings?

I'd love to know if you found anything helpful in this post. If you did, please let me know by commenting under my latest IG post.

To ease your shopping experience I've collected all of the items in this post in the Amazon Recovery Basket list.

Have a great rest of your week!