explain
pain
section
3
page
46
Introduction
The damaged and deconditioned body
We have talked about pain being part of the unstoppable
force within the human body to promote survival. It is not
the only part. In fact, whenever you are injured, even in a
tiny way as part of everyday ‘wear and tear’, the
healing power of the human body kicks in.
Sometimes it is really quick – the aim is to
return the injured tissue to a functional state
as quickly as possible. Evenwhen there is
much healing to do as there is in broken
bones or torn tendons, it is a dependable and
powerful process… unless we don’t let it do
what it needs to. By understanding about
injury and healing, you can assist the process
with appropriate rest, movement, diet, drugs,
surgery. Pain is often a good guide to the best healing
behaviours – sometimes rest is beneficial and sometimes
movement is beneficial.
Nomatterwhat tissues youhave injured, a similar healing
process occurs. Healing of the gut or skin follows the same
general processes as healing of themuscles and joints.
Tissues become inflamed, which in the first instance is a
good thing because inflammation brings the body’s immune
cells and rebuilding cells to the affected area. A scar is
formed, then the tissue is remodelled tomake it as good a
match to the original as is possible. The twomain things that
determine the speed of healing are blood supply and tissue
requirements. Tissueswith poorer blood supply such as
ligaments and LAFTs (see page 54) take longer to heal than
thosewith better blood supply such as skin andmuscle.
The graph on the facing page illustrates the tissue healing
process. Pain should diminish as the tissues heal, in fact it
often goes before the healing is completed. This is not
surprising because pain follows the need to protect the
tissues. It is not ameasure of the condition of the tissues.
Sometimes pain associatedwith nerve damage persists, but
this is a story we will deal with in later sections
Most importantly, all tissues have a fairly predictable
healing time. Once the healing time has passed they don’t
get another chance. Think of a cut to your skin, perhaps
even look at one of your old scars right now – the skin and
tissues underneath have been through a healing process –
they don’t have another chance and the skinmay not be as
mobile as it was,
but it has repaired.
There aremany tissues that may (ormay not) be involved
in your pain. In the next few pages we will try to explain
different types of tissue injuries, how theymight contribute
to your pain experience, and how they heal. Managing the
tissues involved helps youmanage and treat your pain.
