Recovering from an injury can be a painstaking process especially for people who are very active day in and day out. What’s really bad about it is the amount of time that you have spend not being able to do what you’re used to until you fully recover.
While you’re in the process of recovery it is highly important to make sure that you’re recovering the right way otherwise your injury can lead to various complications. This is why we took the time to ask the top chiropractors on the common misconceptions of people who are trying to recover from an injury.
“What are the most common misconceptions people have when trying to recover from an injury?”
Dr. Bobbie Stowe, West U Chiropractic
www.WestUChiropractic.com
“In this day, of immediate needs/wants and gratifications, some things have to occur more slowly. Depending on the type of injury, the hardest issue for most patients is trying to rush the healing process. Especially if that injury is to an avascular part of the body – in other words – a part that does not get a lot of blood. Examples would be meniscus, ligaments, and tendons, etc. These structures simply do not get a lot of blood flow and without blood, nothing can heal. A young patient of mine lost a full ride to a prestigious university because of an ACL injury. As a junior in high school, her ACL was torn, but repaired by a very good surgeon; however, approximately 3 months post-surgical, the MD released her to continue her sport. I strongly advised against any type of movement that might involve a twisting or pivotal motion. The patient explained that her MD had released her and she had to continue to practice to stay in shape for her upcoming season and show the university she could continue to compete. Unfortunately, in the very first game she played, the ACL snapped, she went down and with that, her full ride was withdrawn. Recovery from certain injuries can take several months to heal correctly and without proper healing, another injury is bound to occur.”
Dr. Tim Merrick, Chiro Alive
www.ChiroAlive.com
“The most common after an injury that they would seek an attorney’s representation for, that is an acute injury with pain and disability, is that they believe they should wait until the pain settles down before they seek care. They are afraid of disturbing the healing process. When in fact, the sooner they seek chiropractic care, the sooner the abnormal compensatory reactions are interrupted, the less permanency of the injury. In short, the sooner you seek treatment, the less severe the injury will be. The skilled chiropractor is equipped to deal with the patient’s pain and can deliver multiple types of intervention that can be received even when the patient is hurting, to reduce swelling and pain, and set them on a healing path sooner.
Think of it like a cut or abrasion. You might not want to wash it out, but the sooner you do, the quicker it will heal”.
Stephanie Higashi, D.C.
www.HealthAtLastNow.com
“Biggest misconception people have when trying to recover from an injury – That it will just go away, when instead what usually happens is the body gets used to the pain and becomes numb or starts getting used to discomfort – instead the body should be treated and corrected so that the body heals properly and does not “get used to the pain” but actually the cause of the pain is corrected and healed properly.”
Matthew B.T.Gloin, D.C., Live Well Chiropractic and Pilates Center
www.LiveWell-LA.com
“Many people when they suffer from an injury feel that if there is pain then the problem needs to be treated. This is of course true, but the misconception is that as the pain levels reduce after beginning care the treatment can now stop as well. To better understand an injury it first needs to be stated that our bodies do a great job of letting us know that damage to a bone, muscle, nerve or ligament has occurred through pain, spasms, inflammation, changes in ability to do activities, and many other ways, but as our body begins to heal these signals may also become less pronounced while the healing is not yet complete. Over the years, I have had patients who have stopped care prematurely because of feeling better to then return again because of a return of symptoms after doing an activity that their body was not ready to do. The short lesson here is to complete the prescribed injury related care, so that full healing may occur and this will also help reduce the risk of scar tissue and other problems associated with a chronic complaint that is much more difficult to resolve.”
Dr. Leonard Faye, Faye and Faye Chiropractic
www.FayeChiropractic.com
“Patients think that all MVC injuries are the same. They need to know that if their neck or back is very painful, immediately, as opposed to a few hours later; they have sprained spinal ligaments and ligaments take months to heal. If the healing occurs with movement, tissues repair better than if they repair with restricted movement. Either way, there are residual changes, that increase the rate of aging degeneration of the tissues. Back and neck pains, that gradually increases over 12 to 72 hours are due to muscular strains and respond in a few weeks. Hence, the history of the onset of severe pain is critical to the prognosis, along with gender, age, fitness and job satisfaction.”
