On this post I am going to talk about how inflammation appears after an injury and how the healing process can lead to a decrease on range of motion and pain.
In response to an injury, the body react with a defensive repair process with a primary focus on the reorganization of cells in order to repair the damage tissue. The healing process need to involve vessels repair and new growth and proliferation of cells that are going to produce collagen fibres in order to form scar tissue.
The initial acute inflammation result from tissue injury and will occur due an increase of blood and fluids on the area and also numerous chemical substances that are involve on this process which some of them are the cause of pain. The early repair of injured tissues star with the replacement of damage or dead cells. The next phase called regeneration phase, is when new collagen fibres are laid down randomly oriented and start to restore the structure, the treatment during this phase is enhance stability and tensile strength encouraging proper alignment of collagen fibres. On the next stage which is called remodelling phase, the collagen crosslink increase so, stability return but sometimes the range of mobility is diminished. However to prevent this, the treatment on this stage is focus on encourage the proper alignment of the fibers to enhance full range of motion.
As in Osteopathy we treat the body as a whole and we understand the properties of the connective tissue and also the Fascial System, we can select an appropriate treatment strategy an choose an Osteopathic Manipulative Technique (OMT) that it will be useful to achieve the specific goal (according to the stage that your injury is) in order to bring you as a patient the reduction of pain that is what you are looking for and also to be able to do your daily activities without any restriction.
If you have pain and want to get rid off it call and book an appointment with your Manual Osteopathic Practitioner and he will know the best way to help you.
