Working Out After Botox

Can you workout after Botox? How long after Botox can you work out? Should you exercise after Botox? How soon after Botox can you exercise? Answering all work out after Botox questions.

This post is about working out after Botox.

Working Out After Botox

This is not medical advice. Always talk with your own healthcare provider and medical provider for any cosmetic treatment and medical treatments.

A lot of patients come to us when they’ve had a day off of work or they’ve got some time. They’ve scheduled some appointments and they’re getting their Botox injection areas done. And some patients want to squeeze in a workout right after their Botox appointment.

You should not go and do a high intensity workout right after your Botox treatment.

Dr. Lynn Neiman does thousands of Botox treatments every year. And our desire for patients to always have the best outcome possible.

Whenever we do a Botox injections for you, your provider, me or any provider that you might see, we are going to watch your facial muscles. We’re going to watch you talk, we’re going to watch you animate. We’re going to spend time thinking about your Botox procedure and we are going to place that Botox as precisely as we can in the area that we intend to treat.

When that Botox goes in the muscle, it doesn’t actually go to the target right away. What’s the target? The target is the inside of the nerve. The inside of the nerve is what gives. So that is the place where we’re going to get a signal to cross from the nerve to the muscle to cause it to contract our Botox treatment.

Kind of short circuits that signal from the nerve cell to the muscle cell. Our Botox is the cause of that little short circuit for just a temporary period of time, like about three months.

And from our Botox treatment when it’s injected to the time that we can get it inside of that nerve cell, it doesn’t happen instantaneously. It takes about an hour at the very least, and it could take a couple of hours. So two to three hours.

Can You Workout After Botox?

There aren’t any really good studies that tell us precisely the amount of time. We have a certain range that I can tell you after your Botox treatment. Your Botox time takes one to three hours to be taken up by that nerve cell where it’s actually going to do the job that we intend it to do, slowing the signal from the nerve to the muscle to contract.

In the time after we inject until the time that that medication is taken up in that nerve cell, it’s just kind of present outside of the nerve. It’s present in the muscle, it’s present in what we refer to as the extracellular space. It’s just kind of free floating right outside of where that nerve is.

Things that can change, where that Botox is rubbing can maybe make that Botox move to a different place.

More importantly for exercise, it is your circulation. Your blood pressure and the amount of circulation that you have whenever you exercise and you go to the gym.  If you’re doing something high intensity, it is going to cause your blood pressure to raise and your circulation to increase. And when that happens, you have the possibility of taking that Botox that is active, it’s going to do a job, but you may wash it away from that nerve cell terminal before it has a chance to be taken up in that nerve cell and do its job.

You are running the risk of removing that Botox before it has a chance to do its full job and before you have the chance to appreciate the full effectiveness of the investment that you made when you came in to purchase your Botox and have your treatment done.

How Long After Botox Can You Work Out?

We never recommend to patients that they do anything high intensity on the day that they’ve had their Botox treatment done.

What do we mean by high intensity? Going to a big cardio class, doing really high intensity workouts, strenuous exercise, hot tubs, intense workout, doing a HIIT workout with vigorous exercise, hot yoga, strength training, excessive movement, aerobic exercise, excessive sweating, strenuous activities, anything like that. This could led to potential migration of Botox without allowing enough time during the first day.

We wouldn’t recommend going out and playing tennis on a sunny day. Also, we wouldn’t even recommend going straight from here to the golf course, putting on your hat and walking around in the heat outside. Those would be things that are going to increase your circulation and may decrease the effects of Botox treatment. The hat or visor can also led to drooping eyebrows after a Botox injection sites.

Should You Exercise After Botox?

If you have your Botox treatment done and you feel like you really want to exercise, going for a really low key walk one where you can keep a conversational tone with a friend the entire time that you’re walking is perfectly fine. We don’t have any issues with you getting a little bit of movement in, but we don’t really want to increase your heart rate and increase your circulation.

And even if you do want to go for a walk, we generally recommend to patients that they wait a couple of hours and maybe go later in the evening to do that kind of activity. Normal activities and light walking are fine. Maybe doing something low intensity, like going for a walk where you can keep a conversational tone with someone that you’re walking with that is perfectly fine.

Otherwise, save the high intensity workout for tomorrow when you can resume daily activities, regular exercise routine and give yourself the healing process for optimal results for your injected area.

Work Out After Botox

Exercise is so critically important for a number of reasons, including mental health. You have made an investment in your Botox. You also have expectations and desires for the outcome that you want in addition the duration that you want out of your Botox treatment.

It’s okay to give yourself the day to say, just dial it back a little bit, keep things low intensity, or skip your physical activity that day and get back on your regular schedule the next day.

We want to make sure your treatment gives you the best results in your treated area and that the duration of your treatment is as long as possible.

Remember, Dr. Nieman is a physician, but may not be your physician. These are strategies we employ Blossom Medical. Obviously, have a discussion with your healthcare provider and see which of those procedures might be a benefit for you.