When Your Injured Muscle Will Not Heal
By Sara Butler
Sprains and strains are very common. You see your chiropractor at The Joint in order to help so that when your body is in alignment, it will be able to work at its best to heal itself. But sometimes, even with the help of your chiropractor, you may find an injury is being stubborn and not heal. Here are some the reasons you may be running into problems and how your chiropractor can help!
Exercises
Your chiropractor has probably given you some exercise to do in order to help your body heal and your muscles to strengthen. If these exercises aren’t helping you need to take a look at:
- If you’re really doing them – You might go into this with the best intentions, but if you’re not doing them as your chiropractor prescribed them to you, then they’re not going to help.
- How long you’ve been doing them – Nothing is a miracle cure. Even if you are diligent in doing the exercises to help you heal you still aren’t going to heal overnight. Many times it can take thousands of repetitions before the exercise helps your body. But if it’s been a few months and it’s not getting better you should let your chiropractor know.
- Doing too much – There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. If you are not resting your injured muscle enough then it won’t be able to heal properly. Make sure you listen to your body.
- You’re not doing the exercises right – If you’re not making progress you may not be doing the exercise correctly. Ask your chiropractor to show you again how the exercise is performed so that you can get the most benefit from it.
Other Reasons
There are a few other things outside of the exercises you’ve been given that can impact the rate at which your injury heals. They include:
- Icing – In the beginning you want to apply ice to an injury to help with inflammation and pain, but you shouldn’t continue to ice your injury past the first few days since this impacts the blood flow to the area. An injured muscle needs blood to repair.
- Hydration – You have to remember to drink enough water! Proper hydration allows your body to function at its best and is really important to the body trying to heal itself!
If you’re having trouble with a stubborn injury, you need to make your chiropractor aware of it! Your D.C. (Doctor of Chiropractic) maybe able to help you determine what is happening to that you can get on that road to recovery!