Chasing Pain
These past 2 weeks I have seen quite a few muscle and tendon sprain/ strains. It is the season of increased activity and volume of training with the longer nights and warmer days. The odd thing is that as I listen to these patients, they are moving from one injury to the next without ever completely healing from the first.
First, let’s talk sprain/ strain and then we’ll discuss what alerts me there may be a need to dive deeper. The terms sprain and strain are interchangeable when we code them for medical documentation purposes. If you sprain your ankle, you overstretch the ligaments that hold the bones in place.
If you strain a muscle (ex: your hamstring), you have overstretched the attachment of the muscle to the tendon or tendon to the bone.
Either way, you overstretched something that wasn’t ready for or strong enough to withstand that movement. This sets off the inflammatory process cellularly to bring healing and alerts the sympathetic nervous system.
“Either way, you overstretched something that wasn’t ready for or strong enough to withstand that movement. ”
So what alerts me to dive deeper? There are a few things:
1) When a patient says, “I don’t know if this is relevant?”
2) When they have consistently moved from one injury to the next.
3) When there is chronic inflammation or a pocket of fluid.
4) When their past medical history includes any of the following: chemotherapy, allergies, GERD, gall bladder removal, colon resection, multiple abdominal surgeries, red bumps or other rashes (in more than one body part), Fibromyalgia, any toxicity (heavy metal, mold, etc), long haul, chronic nerve pain, long term antibiotic or steroid use, high cholesterol & high blood pressure, frequent sore throats, kidney problems, sinus issues, anxiety/ nervousness.
You may be asking yourself, why are these important?
These are all clues that your body is leaving. Your body may be struggling to eliminate inflammation. When you add another injury to insult without correcting the root of the problem, your body may over react or not heal as quickly. Inflammation will continue to pop up and be a battle.
Find a physical therapist or other qualified medical professional who can thoroughly assess your injury and history. They should help you formulate a plan of attack for a full restoration back to health. It may be a fairly simple rehabilitation plan, but when you begin chasing pain I have found (in my experience) that there is bigger root issue.
And above all else, PLEASE do not stretch the injured tissue. Let the injury scar down and heal.
This is not medical advice. You should always consult your healthcare practitioner(s) for medical advise and what is best for your care. The purpose of this blog is to centralize and share information while connecting with others.