How long after Botox can you exercise

Exercise is an integral part of many people’s lives. They plan their daily schedule to include at least some physical activity.

Índice Show

Can You Exercise After Botox?
How Long Do You Need to Refrain from Exercise After Getting Botox?
What Can Happen If You Exercise?
What Exercises Can You Do After Getting Botox?
Upright Yoga, Pilates, or Light Stretching
Facial Exercises
What Exercises to Avoid After Botox?
Exercises on the Floor (Yoga, Pilates)

So, what happens when you get a Botox treatment? Can you still exercise?

The following information will help you determine what is a safe level of physical activity after Botox.

Can You Exercise After Botox?

Medical professionals don’t recommend vigorous exercise after a Botox treatment. Botox injections take time to settle, so any pressure on the treated area or brisk movements may cause Botox to diffuse.

Refrain from activities that involve jumping, running, getting your heart rate up, sweating, and using gear that puts pressure on your face.

How Long Do You Need to Refrain from Exercise After Getting Botox?

Avoid cardio exercises 24 hours after the Botox procedure. In some cases, medical providers recommend refraining from strenuous exercise for up to a week. Light exercise is allowed four hours after the treatment, but don’t bend your head or lie down.

What Can Happen If You Exercise?

During exercise, you may involuntarily touch your face or wipe the sweat and apply pressure to the treated area. Applying pressure may cause Botox to spread from the injected site to other locations. This paralyzes unintended muscles and may result in uneven facial features or droopy eyelids.

Botox may also spread due to an increased blood flow from exercising and energetic movements.

In addition, an increased blood flow from exercise may cause bruising after Botox.

What Exercises Can You Do After Getting Botox?

You can engage in light exercise four hours after the Botox procedure.

Walking

Unless you are a very brisk walker, you may replace your regular fitness regimen with a pleasant walk on the day of your Botox procedure. Don’t move your head around too much or touch your face. Make sure your face is not exposed to direct sunlight because the heat dilates blood vessels and may cause Botox to diffuse to other areas.

Upright Yoga, Pilates, or Light Stretching

As long as you don’t bend your head or lie down, you can engage in light exercises such as yoga, Pilates, and stretching. Avoid movements that may cause Botox to diffuse.

Gardening

Like walking and upright exercise, gardening is safe after Botox. Avoid sunlight, bending your head down, applying pressure to your face, and swift movements that may raise your heart rate and blood flow.

Facial Exercises

Facial exercises like smiling, frowning, and raising the eyebrows contract muscles. Light facial exercise is recommended because it helps Botox flow into the muscles and settle in.

What Exercises to Avoid After Botox?

Doctors generally agree that Botox patients should avoid strenuous physical activity for at least 24 hours after the procedure.

Exercises to avoid after Botox are:

Running

Avoid running after Botox. Running increases your heart rate and blood flow, dilating blood vessels. This leads to bruising and swelling.

Aerobics

Just like running, aerobics raises your heart rate and increases the chance of side effects like bruising and swelling.

Swimming

Avoid swimming after Botox primarily because of the swimming gear. Swimming hats and goggles may apply pressure on your Botox injection area and diffuse the neurotoxin.

Exercises on the Floor (Yoga, Pilates)

Avoid exercises on the floor where you may bend your head or practice downward positions. Bending your head may cause Botox to spread to other locations.

Conclusion

It may be hard to abstain from working out if it’s part of your everyday routine. However, remember it’s only for one day. Sticking to an exercise routine at all costs isn’t worth the risk of up to three months of undesired Botox effects.

If you are still unsure whether Botox is right for you, consider all Botox pros and cons.

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Botox may have a reputation as an easy "lunchtime" treatment but it still comes with certain precautions. Of note, providers typically advise refraining from physical activity after your appointment.

While some people have zero hesitation when directed to skip a workout (🙋🏻‍♀️), maybe you have a strict training schedule and are wondering if abstaining from workouts is necessary or suggested in an abundance of caution. To put it bluntly, this is one rule you want to abide by since working out too soon after a Botox treatment could mess with your results.

Before digging into the 'why,' it could be helpful to brush up on what Botox even is.

Botox is an injectable treatment that contains botulinum toxin. Along with Dysport, Xeomin, Jeuveau, and the new FDA-approved Daxxify, Botox falls under a category of medication referred to as neuromodulators, meaning that it affects nerve signals. More specifically, when injected into a muscle, the botulinum toxin prevents a nerve signal that causes muscles to contract, creating a temporary paralysis of the muscle. Many people turn to Botox for cosmetic reasons, since the muscle relaxation effects can minimize the appearance of wrinkles and prevent new ones from forming, but providers also use Botox to treat conditions such as migraines or temporomandibular joint (TMJ).

As for why working out right after Botox can be problematic, that boils down to a bit of science involving preservative proteins (also referred to as hemagglutinin proteins) that make up part of the Botox molecule. "After injection, it takes a few days for that preservative protein to disassociate from the active botulinum toxin molecule," and for the toxin to bind to the muscle, says Alan Durkin, M.D., founder of Ocean Drive Plastic Surgery. The preservative protein must first separate from the core molecule in order for Botox to do its job, he explains. Once separate, the core molecule is able to prevent nerves from releasing a chemical called acetylcholine, which normally triggers muscle contraction when your brain directs a muscle to move.

"However, during the timeframe between injection and Botox binding [to the muscle], there is an opportunity for the Botox to 'migrate' as it has not bound to the muscle," he says. (I.e., it can move away from where it was injected and affect a different muscle.) Workouts, and especially explosive exercises, can "accentuate and increase" the migration, says Dr. Durkin. The injection area that carries the biggest chance of migration is the "11 lines" between your eyebrows, and it can lead to eyelid ptosis (drooping), he notes. While rare, it's not something you want to press your luck with since the complication can last for months without any available recourse but time.

Exactly how long you should wait to work out post-Botox will depend on your existing fitness level and the intensity of your training. That's because your metabolic rate will influence how your body metabolizes Botox, says Dr. Durkin. (FYI, increasing your strength training and cardio can both contribute to raising your metabolic rate.) "Your metabolic rate will influence your Botox metabolism, as well as the metabolism of all neuromodulators," he says. "All [neuromodulators] are influenced by activity." Sedentary people typically notice an additional month of results compared to highly-active individuals, he adds.

With that in mind, for athletes, Dr. Durkin suggests avoiding all exercise for 24 hours and waiting three additional days before returning to any rigorous workouts. Those three days can consist of light cardio that doesn't involve any bouncing or quick flexion and extension (bending and straightening) at the waist. This is because, again, quick, ballistic movements such as plyometrics or exercises that produce power and velocity, can cause the injected material to move around.

If you have a more modest fitness level, he suggests a slightly different timeline. You can return to light cardio after 24 hours and more intense exercise after 48 hours. In addition, he advises avoiding any advanced yoga or stretching for 48 hours, regardless of your fitness level. Holding various facial positions throughout yoga and stretching (think: hanging your head upside down during downward-facing dog, for example) can also cause the Botox to migrate, he explains.

Note that opting for a different botulinum toxin injection can shave time off of your waiting period. "One option for getting someone back to exercise quickly is to use Xeomin, which is a preservative-free neuromodulator that binds almost immediately," says Dr. Durkin. "For these patients, all exercise regardless of intensity can be undertaken, including yoga, in 48 hours." Chalk it up to the aforementioned preservative proteins in Botox, which are absent in Xeomin due to a more extensive purification process. "Xeomin is literally the exact same molecule as Botox in terms of how it works, but there are no preservatives," says Dr. Durkin. "It is simply a purer form of Botox. Xeomin binds almost immediately to muscle, so its chances for migration are less in patients who like to move and exercise, i.e. athletes."

Another pro of Xeomin is that people who develop a high "tolerance" to Botox (i.e. start needing higher doses with the same effects) may not meet the same fate with Xeomin, says Dr. Durkin. That's thanks to a particular hemagglutinin protein (remember those?) that's found in Botox but absent in Xeomin. "Hemagglutinin-33 has been shown to cause an immunogenic response, meaning that hemagglutinin-33 may be responsible for the tolerance to Botox," says Dr. Durkin. In other words, it's less likely that your body will develop antibodies against Xeomin. Both options last anywhere from three to four months.

Whichever route you take, it'll be in your best interest to scale back on your workouts for a few days. Consider it an opportunity to protect your investment while reaping the benefits of regular rest days.

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