When will I be better?

How long will it take to heal?

The obvious, and not very useful, answer is as long as a piece of string (or it depends what you've done, who you are and what you're doing to help recovery)

One of the many reasons people come to see me as a massage therapist is because they have experienced an injury. Generally this is through playing sport but it can also be from everyday activities - falling off the curb, trips, slips and falls - the common factors being a sudden feeling of pain rather than a gradual onset. The slow burn, or overuse, injury is for another post.

We would clarify this as acute and most likely  a trauma injury. For the purpose of this article let's assume that it is a soft tissue injury rather than a bone injury.

Muscle strains can be first, second or third degree with the higher number being the most severe. It involves the complete tear of a muscle and will reveal itself through swelling, pain and instability.

A first degree injury refers to over stretching of muscles /ligaments and can be identified by mild pain, some swelling and joint stiffness.

As the seriousness of the injury might suggest, the time taken to heal will vary with first degree strains and sprains taking up to three weeks to heal and third degree injuries taking three months or longer.

This doesn't mean you get to sit around doing nothing : recovery is very much an active process.
Initially following the injury for 24 to 48 hours you do get to rest and may find relief from applying ice, compressing the site of the injury and keeping it elevated for periods during the day.

Soon enough, rehabilitation begins to restore mobility, and reduce the effect of scar tissue. The final part of recovery is regaining fitness components. You will want to ensure that you have a full range of motion and this can be achieved through a stretch and strengthening routine. Particularly for lower limb (eg ankle) injuries it is important to practice balance and proprioception to help avoid future injuries. If the original injury was caused through sport, you might also want to work with a coach to look at your technique to rule out biomechanical error as a cause of or contribution to the injury.

All well and good but why am I telling you this? Massage can help particularly in the weeks after the initial injury to help reduce the formation of scar tissue and to help monitor and manage the range of motion at the injured joint. It's best to avoid massage on the immediate days following injury as treatment might exacerbate rather than relieve symptoms and can lead to a longer healing period.

Recovering from injury? Get in touch to book a massage appointment to help get you back to being active and to stay that way.