Avoid These 10 Ways to SLOW Your Healing From Injuries
Proper posture helps you heal
Not feeling better as fast as you want? Read below to find out what's holding you back.
If any of the points above describe you, take steps with your doctor to reduce their negative effect. It's that much more important that you follow the doctor's recommendations to make sure you respond well with care.
- Smoking - associated with increased risk of disc injury, higher risk of spinal surgical nonunion, block of natural anti-inflammatory chemicals, accelerated intervertebral disc degeneration, and higher risk of developing myofascial pain syndromes (like fibromyalgia).
- Poor Diet - a variety of antioxidants (vitamins, minerals) are needed for your body to repair damaged tissues. The food you eat will also increase inflammatory chemicals in your body or reduce them. Eat lots of vegetables (especially dark greens), fruit, good fats, healthy protein, and drink lots of water.
- Lack of Activity - move it or lose it. When you don't use your body the way it was designed to be used, it starts to degrade. Exercise has been shown to accelerate wound healing. It is important to avoid specifically aggravating activities. As soon as exercise is determined to be appropriate for you, it will be added to your treatment to speed healing.
- Poor Posture - soft tissues that are already damaged, now have more stress & stretch on them when posture is bad. This requires more work from your muscles and causes abnormal movements.
- Poor Sleep - while we're resting at night, our bodies are healing from everything we have thrown at them. Research has noted that sleep will actually change how our DNA functions, resulting in better or worse healing.
- High Stress - every point on this list is a stress on our body, but this refers to mental stress. Increased stress increases our body's stress hormones and significantly delays healing. Research on rats has found that when the rats are stressed out (by confining them in a small space), their wounds don't heal nearly as quickly.
- Prior Injuries - each additional injury to the same area, is more difficult for the body to heal. Every time you injure soft tissues (muscle, ligament, etc.), the body repairs them with scar tissue which is less flexible and functional than normal tissue. The problem isn't your age, it's that you landed on your head too many times as a kid.
- Arthritis or other spinal pathology - these underlying chronic problems may not have caused your problem, or even cause you any painful complaints. However, they do make it more difficult for your body to heal from a new injury in the same area.
- Diabetes - diabetic patients have a slower, impaired healing process. Reduced function of the circulatory system and nervous system contribute to these healing problems.
- Medications - drugs such as methysergide and diphenylhydantoin may cause excess scarring in some individuals. Doctors limit the use of steroid due to their damaging effect on the body's tissues and ability to heal.
If any of the points above describe you, take steps with your doctor to reduce their negative effect. It's that much more important that you follow the doctor's recommendations to make sure you respond well with care.
