Injuries to your soft tissues may lead to swelling, difficulty moving, and pain. Recovery from this type of damage may require you to find assistance from a specialist in treating pain, especially if your pain lasts more than a couple of days. Chiropractic experts use several methods to help heal soft tissue damage.
Healing Phases of a Soft Tissue Injury
A soft tissue injury will often undergo several phases as healing progresses. Your chiropractor can work with you during each phase to find the best technique to promote faster healing of the damage. The stages of healing include:
- Bleeding
- Inflammation
- Scar tissue formation
- Remodeling
First, the bleeding phase occurs immediately after the injury. You may not see bleeding outside your body, but inside, broken blood vessels can cause internal bleeding. In most cases, it will be minor, resulting in a bruise that appears later.
Next, the inflammation phase occurs. During this time, which can last for weeks but generally peaks within three days of the injury, extra blood flow and white blood cells in the area cause tissue swelling and pain. To control swelling during the first few days after the injury, you should rest, elevate your injured site, and use ice and compression.
Following inflammation, scar tissue forms as the body deliver healing compounds to the soft tissue injury site. When the swelling begins to go down, you should focus on avoiding muscle loss from resting the injury. Over time, you may also incorporate strengthening and stretching exercises to keep your tissues and muscles strong and flexible.
Finally, the body restores the site through the remodeling process. This phase restores the injury site to a condition as close to its pre-injury state as possible. For example, if you had a deep cut as part of the injury, you may have a scar left. However, the opening in the skin will have healed over.
Soft Tissue Injury Rehab
While your body can heal itself, the process takes time. In some cases, a soft tissue injury may require weeks to properly heal. With the help of a chiropractor, you could experience less pain and possibly faster healing.
Some of the techniques for soft tissue injury rehab that we use at our office in Silver Spring, Maryland include:
- Rapid Release Massager: This technique uses both hands-on methods and a specially designed tool to help release tension and massage painful muscles.
- Trigger Point Dry Needling: Dry needling may help to release tension found in areas of muscle tightness or trigger points.
- Instrument-Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (IASTM): With this technique, the chiropractor uses an instrument to release the tightness caused by post-injury scar tissue formation.
- Physical Therapy for Injuries: Physical therapy is another method commonly used for soft tissue injury rehab because it helps patients to heal through specific exercises. This treatment option can also help you to keep your range of motion as you heal and avoid stiffness of pain after scar tissue formation.
Because soft tissue injuries can vary in their location and severity, you may need one or more of the above treatment options. In fact, for some patients, combinations of therapies work well while other patients heal properly with a single type of care.
Talk to our chiropractor. Together, you can create a plan that will promote the fastest healing and least amount of pain for you. Plus, if your lifestyle makes getting to our clinic difficult, we also can make house calls for chiropractic services.
Connect with Back to You for Soft Tissue Injury Rehab
You deserve to feel better. However, when you have a soft tissue injury, you need to seek additional help. Contact us at Back to You by phoning 301.755.1997 or using our online contact form to have us reach out to you.
With chiropractor care, you may see faster healing, less pain, and a quicker return to your life.
