Your Secret Super Power!

Your body has an amazing ability, the ability to heal! It really is like a superpower! Understanding healing stages is REALLY useful when it comes to recovering from an injury that has lead to real tissue trauma, for example, your bone breaking or your part of your muscle or joint tissue tearing. Most of us have experienced some sort of pain and swelling in our lives but understanding the 3 stages of healing will really help you in your recovery.

The 3 stages all overlap each other.

Stage 1 Inflammation

The first stage following tissue injury is inflammation. This is where a ‘chemical soup’ moves into the area and you may get swelling as it builds. We need this inflammatory response to happen as it begins the healing process. The inflammation typically only lasts for days to a couple of weeks and after that, the inflammatory chemicals should fade away.

Stage 2 Proliferation

Proliferation begins just days after the initial injury. This is where brand new tissue gets created by your body to repair the injured area. Your body is normally great at doing this! It throws in the new tissue in a disorganised way, meaning it’s a bit messy and not quite like the original, but at this stage, it doesn’t really matter.

Stage 3 Remodelling

The final stage of healing is remodelling. This is where your body begins to remodel the new tissue in response to what you do and can take 3-6 months. People often think that once they’ve had a bit of time that they are all healed and ‘good to go’ BUT this is where you might start to have problems.

The tissue is new and so it is sensitive and not yet tolerant to moving, stretching, being squashed and exercising. If you do not move it enough or exercise it, the remodelling will not occur effectively. It will still be healed but will probably not function as you want it to and may be painful.

For the first 2 stages, waiting and being patient is all you need to do, but as you move into the remodelling phase you will need to do some rehab!

The goal after any injury is returning to full function as it was pre-injury with full movement, strength and of course no pain! This is almost always possible unless the injury is very severe.

So if you’ve had an injury and have not yet recovered your full function, don’t despair! Get it moving, stretching and work on its exercise and strength tolerance. Repetition, time and some perseverance work wonders!