Healing, whose job is it anyway?

In my last posting I finished with the idea that no medical profession can heal the body, only provide and promote an environment within the body for it to heal itself. That may seem like a rash statement, but let’s take an example and see if you agree.

Option #1: You break a bone and choose to go untreated. The bone would grow back together – your body would heal itself. Sounds good, and once upon a time that is exactly what would have occurred, the body would have been left to do its best with no real intervention. In some cases the body would have completely failed and the person would have died (either from blood infection or from a bit of fat from the bone marrow getting into the blood stream and causing a stroke or heart attack (medical-ese = fat embolism). Alternately the person survives the injury but with ongoing pain and permanently reduced function. The most common causes of chronic pain and dysfunction in for the survivor would be non-alignment of the bone, which would mean the bone would no longer be doing its job properly; and/or trauma to the surrounding soft tissue (fascia, muscle, tendon, or ligament), which may not heal well or functionally. In almost all cases there will be some remaining dysfunction with this option, which is why it is great that we now have Option #2.

Option #2: You break a bone and go to an emergency room where they x-ray you to determine if the bone is broken. If necessary the beak is aligned, and often a cast is put on to prevent shifting. With extreme fractures there may be surgical repair using plates, screws, or rods to provide internal fixation to severe fractures. You are also given pain-killers and anti-inflammatory medications to ease any suffering from the trauma and the healing process (NB: inflammation is a part of the healing process). We might be encouraged to eat calcium and protein rich foods to provide out bodies with the building blocks of the tissue that needs repair and replacement. In six weeks or so you have the cast removed and you generally have a nice straight bone. Then you embark on a course of rehabilitation treatment. This can encompass a wide variety of treatments - physiotherapy and/or massage therapy being most likely - with therapeutic exercises prescribed by any or all of the medical professionals you are dealing with. At the end of your treatment you should have full movement, no residual pain and your strength should be at pre-accident levels or closely approaching them.

So Option #2 is optimal. So some will ask, “What do you mean the body heals itself? Obviously medical professionals play a large role, how is that not healing?” But I contend that the body is doing the healing, medical professionals are assisting the body to do its best, most functional, least painful job of healing, and trying to prevent negative side effects.

Having pointed out the importance of your body in healing I will turn to why intervention is a good thing. In the above scenario you often have individuals who want to shortcut the process. They take their cast off early; they try to use the injured part too soon, or too vigorously. They do not undertake rehabilitation; of fail to participate in there rehabilitation by doing the stretching and strengthening that is recommended. In this shortcut version of option #2 the complications of the injury may be minor and the person may manage fairly well. They may just accept that they are slightly impaired, their reasoning being “Well, I broke my ____, shouldn’t I be impaired/in pain”. The answer to that is a resounding NO! In most cases quality follow up care and rehabilitation can have a person suffer no negative after effects. Rehabilitative care will ensure the restoration of balanced muscle function and maximize the functionality of any scar tissue that is the main soft tissue complication arising from a fracture (ah, scar tissue, the unsung villain, and hero, of the body….but that is for another time). Being active in your rehabilitation is essential. During the early stages of healing getting lots of rest and not over-exerting are the main requirements and they take little effort on your part. In the rehabilitation stages the demands begin to increase. In some cases this is great as the injured person is eager to begin activity – though in those cases the trick is to avoid over-doing. In most cases though, because the pain is gone, and the cast is gone, the person allows themselves to not do anything more, to believe that all is well as it stands and to not do more. This is a sad thing as no matter how much any professional works on a person it is the active participation of that person that allows the full progression to wellness to occur.

As I referenced earlier, scar tissue will be my next topic. How you may ask is this an important topic, well, watch for my next posting and I will tell you about the vital role scar tissue can play in wellness, and un-wellness.