The Ins-And-Outs Of Tissue Damage
Tissue damage sucks. Why? Because it’s painful and can sometimes last a long time 😢. But fear not! We have the knowledge and experience to help reduce your pain and ensure your body heals correctly 💪.
First, let’s take a look at what tissue damage is 🤔 and how it’s caused. Then we’ll tell you more about how we can help you with tissue injuries.
What Are The Most Common Tissue Injuries?
Some of the most common tissue damage we see at Inspired Health Chiropractic include:
· Microtrauma to any muscle in the body especially the shoulder rotator cuff
· Sprains of the ligaments, including ankles and wrists.
· Strains in the neck, back, calf, and hamstring muscles.
· Tendonitis – Inflammation of the tendons in the body from repetitive use.
· Bursitis – inflammation of the hip, knee, or shoulder bursae (cushions under the tendons).
How Does Tissue Damage Happen?
Tissue injuries happen when your body’s muscles, tendons, or ligaments experience low and slow trauma or fast and sudden trauma. These injuries can either happen suddenly 😲 such as spraining your ankle or gradually from overuse 😫.
Tissue damage can also happen when you don’t let your muscles fully recover from a workout 🏋️♀️ or continue a hardcore workout without resting in between.
Your ankles, knees, and wrists are especially vulnerable to tissue damage as these joints can turn inward, especially if you land hard on them or twist them 😭. Tissue injuries can also occur when your body’s fibrous tissue gets stretched too far and tears (ouch!).
Tendonitis involves inflammation or irritation of the muscles and tendons caused by stress or repetitive use.
Bursitis affects the bursae. These are small sacs that are filled with fluid that cushion our bones, tendons, and muscles. This condition happens when your bursae become inflamed, usually affecting your hips, knees, and shoulders.
What Are The Symptoms Of Tissue Damage?
According to the NHS, the most common symptoms people experience when they have tissue damage are pain and swelling as well as bruising in more significant injuries.
How Should A Sudden Traumatic Tissue Injury Be Managed?
There are four steps you should follow if you have tissue damage, these are rest, ice, compression, and elevation.
· Rest: Try and do as little as possible with the injured area for at least the first 72 hours after you think you have incurred a tissue injury. 😴
· Ice: Apply ice to the area every two to three hours for the first 72 hours. You can leave the ice on for around 10 minutes. 🧊
· Compression: Use a compression bandage that you can get from your local pharmacy. 🧦
· Elevation: Keep the injured area elevated to reduce swelling. 🛏
How Should A Slow Tissue Injury Be Managed?
This can be a bit trickier as often there is continued unavoidable repetitive use and an incomplete healing cycle at play. Often expertise care and advice are needed here.
How Long Does It Take To Recover?
It takes your body quite some time to complete the tissue healing process. It may take several months to get back to normal and be able to get back to your previous level of physical activity.
Your injury must go through four stages before it can completely heal: bleeding, inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling.
- Bleeding – Muscles have a good blood supply and, as a result, bleed more and for a longer time than you would externally.
- Inflammation – This attracts cells to the area to start healing and repairing the tissues. It should start within the first two hours after the injury. It peaks at around three days and lasts a couple of weeks.
- Proliferation – This is when your body creates scar tissue to repair your injury. This will start around 48 hours after your injury and can go on for four to six months.
- Remodelling – You may not be in pain anymore, but your injury isn’t fully recovered until it has completed the remodeling phase. At around two to three weeks, your body starts to remodel the new scar to get it as close as possible to the original tissue. This process can continue for two years.
Can It Be Permanent?
Without proper treatment and continued overuse, sometimes, tissues are harder to heal 🙈. If it has been going on for over 6 weeks usually you will need some support to get better.
How We Can Help
The best way to heal tissue damage, relieve the pain caused by the injury, and get back to normal life sooner is to get care and start rehabilitation as soon as possible 👍.
During your time with us, we will use chiropractic care and massage to treat the affected area and improve your range of motion at the joint that typically stiffens after you have injured yourself.
We will also show you exercises you can do to stimulate tissue strength and stability in the area. Lastly, we use muscle techniques that break down scar tissue and help reduce pain.
To book an appointment with us and to treat your tissue injury, give us a call ☎ on 01245 699 152 or click here to get in contact.
