Why do I need rehab when the body heals itself?

Sustaining an injury can be a distressing time, and in some cases we may panic when we start to worry about;

How long will it take to heal?

When can I return to exercise?

When will I be able to return to work?

Lets look at what can be done in order to maintain motivation and speed up the recovery process.

Whats the first stage?

The first stage of recovery is understanding how to get from A (the initial onset/occurrence of the injury) to B (back to activities of daily living).

No matter what the injury, the body needs to go through the healing process which consists of 4 overlapping phases.

Homeostasis

Blood clotting, acting as a ‘glue’ to bind the damaged tissues back together, and preventing further blood loss.

Inflammation

During this process the body ‘cleans’ the area of damaged and dead cells.

Proliferation

The growth of new tissue occurs

Maturation

Also known as the remodelling phase, collagen (laid down in the proliferation phase) is realigned along tension lines.

If the body heals itself then why do I need to do anything extra?

Yes the body can heal the wound, but the body will only do enough to cover its basic survival; stop the bleeding and fight infection. As an individual, if you want to return to pain free activities, you need to prevent muscle wastage, strength loss, and scar tissue build up which can cause decrease in range of movement. Therefore you need to go a little further and assist the body in the healing process.

Soft tissue can take up to 2 years to return to how is was before the initial onset of injury. This doesn’t mean it will take 2 years to recover, depending on the initial injury, your pain or symptoms could have settled within the first 6-8 weeks. However, it means within this time frame you need to continue working on assisting your body to return to its previous levels of ability.

Lets look again at the phases of healing

Inflammatory phase

A gradual introduction of rehab exercise can aid skeletal muscle pump which works alongside the bodies natural drainage system to help remove damaged and dead cells

Proliferation Phase

As the new tissue grows, gradual progression of rehab exercises (such as stretches) can help prevent the scar tissue from becoming stiff and decreasing our range of movement.

Maturation Phase

By continuing to challenge the tissues with exercises focussing on strength, balance and co-ordination the tissue will continue to develop ready for us to return to the activities we need to do for work, or love to do for our sports we enjoy.

This is where following a tailored rehabilitation programme for your own specific aims and needs can really make the difference between; having a slight difference in muscle bulk, range of movement, power and strength in the involved (injured) side compared to the non-involved side of the body. Or if the involved area were more central (Spinal region) then exercise can prevent compensation in the joints above or below the area of initial injury, removing the worry of any secondary aches and pains developing later down the line.