Treating Injuries

Last time I talked about how to help avoid injuries, but what if you are already injured?  Well, hopefully you have seen medical attention for it.  That's your first step if it's anything serious, especially if you don't know anything about treating injuries.  If you are seriously injured, go do that first, then come back.

So it's not that serious, or you already got medical attention? Good.  Now the healing begins.  Obviously you need to get lots of rest and eat well, but what else?  Is there more that can be done to speed up your recovery?  Depending on the type of injury, most likely.

If you have what we call a "soft tissue' injury, there are things you can do.  If it's tendinitis or tenosynovitis, stop using the muscle and let the area heal.  This usually takes about two weeks and then you'll be fine, but age, diet, fitness level, and genetics can all play a role in how long it takes.  If it's muscular, you should be fine in about two weeks depending on the injury.  If it's just DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) from a heavy workout, usually you'll be fine in 2-3 days, a week max.  If you tore something, that's a different story.  Don't be alarmed, though, as muscles heal very quickly.  If you damaged a ligament, that can take a long time. 

Tendons, cartilage, fascia, and ligaments are what we call "white tissue" because they don't have a direct blood supply like you muscles or organs, the "red tissue."  You can actually improve the speed of healing in white tissue injuries by  gently massaging the area every day to increase the blood flow. 

Massage is also great for muscle aches and pains.  If you have anything torn, that's a different story and a good reason to visit a doctor.  If you seriously think you tore something, my advice would be don't see a GP (general practitioner).  See a specialist right away.  As in right now.  Those injuries could require surgery.  The bright side is muscles are perhaps the fastest healing structures in the body, so you won't stay injured forever.  If you tore a ligament or tendon, that could take over a year to heal depending on the severity.

Now if it's not soft tissue (ex. it's broken bones), you should have already seen a doctor.  Those are harder to speed up and bones are out of my scope of practice, so I recommend speaking to an osteopath or physical therapist. 

So you're injured, it's not your bones, and you were treated.  Now what?  Now you need to listen to your body.  After a bit of healing you need to take it slow and start getting back into basic activities.  Don't get impatient or you can injure yourself again, but don't be inactive or you risk atrophy.  It's a balancing act, but one that you can master with enough patience and practice.