Rehabilitation

Do treatments really speed up tissue healing?  How do you know if they really help healing or if they’re just a waste of time?

 

The Biology of Tissue Healing = Biology  and Time

 

Regardless of  all the magic cures on the market and their slick marketing campaigns, tissue healing is still a biological process where repair tissue  requires  time to regain tensile strength to withstand load.

Every tissue heals differently. Muscle is faster than bone.  Bone is faster than ligament and tendon.  Sadly, articular cartilage may never heal.

Much like baking a cake, injuries require the right environment and right amount of  time to heal.

If you take a cake out of the oven too early,  it won’t look good or taste right.

If you put a cake in the oven at wrong temperature, it will either take longer to bake or you’ll burn it.

All injuries require protection and time to heal well.

 

What we do know is;

 

  • The younger you are, the faster you biologically heal (kids heal faster)
  • The more blood flow of an injured tissue, the faster you biologically heal (muscles heal faster than tendons or ligaments)
  • The better your  genetics are, the faster you may biologically heal (you can only heal as fast as the genes your parents gave you).

 

 

Therefore, designing the best  treatment plan depends on;

 

  1. An  accurate and reliable diagnosis (see diagnosis for more information)
  2. Biological knowledge of how your injury heals, how well it heals and how fast it heals
  3. Biological knowledge of exactly what type and dose of activity works best for a specific diagnosis at each stage of tissue healing
  4. Biological knowledge of what activities and exercises can actually make a condition worse and potentially cause permanent chronic pain.


 

So why do athletes come back from injuries so well?

 

This is the number one question that I’m asked when it comes to injuries.  Here are the five remaining key ingredients;

  1. Elite athletes  are seen by the most experienced physicians and physiotherapists and get the most accurate diagnosis within 24 hours of an injury.
  2. Patience to understand that healing is an individualized biological process and takes time regardless of your age or will power (example: no matter how hard he works or how much  money he has, Sidney Crosby’s head injury takes more time to heal than a bruise)
  3. A commitment to follow a well designed treatment plan for their diagnosis.
  4. A experienced physiotherapist who knows what exercises are safe and appropriate at each stage of healing for the athlete’s  diagnosis (example; doing “too much, too soon” typically delays rehab).
  5. A experienced physiotherapist who knows when it’s safe to progress a rehab program as well as when it’s safe to  return to their pre-injury activities or sports.

 


For 25 years, my job has been to study tissue healing and the science of exercise on behalf of all my patients and surgeons who look for my recommendations on what they should and shouldn’t do at each stage of tissue healing.  

 

What do I do?

 

  • I spend an hour of uninterrupted time assessing and diagnosing my patients pain or complaints.
  • I educate patients on their injury on (1) how it heals, (2)  how fast it heals, (3) things that can help and (4)  things that can make their injury worse.
  • I design safe and appropriate exercise and activity plans so my patients can remain as active as possible while their injury heals.
  • I progress exercises and activities plans as injuries  heal and allow patients to return to more of their pre-injury activities.
  • In the event I believe you need to see another healthcare professional (physician/surgeon) I will write a referral letter on your behalf.

 

Regardless of whether you’re an athlete or not, if you’re looking for someone with my experience to help you back to your activities, then click here to send me note today.

Terry Kane, Registered Physical Therapist