Recovering From Musculoskeletal Trauma in the Body
The musculoskeletal system is comprised of your bones, ligaments, tendons, cartilage, and muscles. In other words, it’s the thing that allows you to conduct most of the physical movement in your life.
In order to function well, you need every piece of the system to operate properly. When something goes wrong, it’s important that you let everything heal in a way that will allow it to return to normal.
Musculoskeletal trauma can occur at any time to any person. You might slip and fall on your way to the kitchen, or you could just sit the wrong way and pull a muscle. There’s no end to the number of injuries you could face.
As a result, it’s important to know how to let a musculoskeletal injury heal correctly. We’ll discuss that process today, giving you some insight into how you can keep yourself safe.
Let’s get started.
What Is Musculoskeletal Trauma?
Musculoskeletal trauma is any injury or incident that puts your system out of alignment. That definition extends out into seemingly small fractures or pulls as well.
Anything that impacts your ability to function in a normal way fits into the definition of trauma. This is because small things have big impacts, and damage situates itself into the way you function unless you do something about it.
Let’s take bone pain, for example. Pain in the bones tends to be very deep and penetrating. It might not sting or shoot in the sense that other injuries do, but the pain exists in a sort of nagging and difficult way.
You’ll do what you can to avoid that pain. You’ll direct your musculoskeletal system to adjust in a way that prevents you from experiencing that pain. As a result, your motion is thrown off, your body will put undue pressure on points that normally wouldn’t receive pressure, and the problem will get worse.
The same goes for issues in the muscles and tendons. We compensate for the areas that hurt and put a strain on the corresponding regions.
Recovering From a Musculoskeletal Injury
If you experience an injury to the musculoskeletal system, note that you should always see a physician. Physical therapists and chiropractors are available to help you recover from these things in the safest way possible.
Damage to the system might come from general wear and tear as well, so it’s important to keep in touch with your chosen professionals. Generally speaking, a physician will seek the most natural way to realign your system and allow it to heal.
The beautiful thing about your musculoskeletal system is that it’s able to heal itself if you give it the right conditions. The body will do its best to bind itself back together in the case of a break, for example.
If it’s not held in the appropriate position, though, it won’t heal the right way. That’s why we wear casts and braces when we have a sprain or break. The body starts to repair itself right away, but it works under the conditions that it’s given.
In the case of bones, the process tends to be simple. If the break is too significant for a natural repair, the doctor might recommend surgery.
Muscle and Tendon Repair
When muscles are pulled and strained, the repair process is a little bit different. This is, in part, due to the fact that the muscular system is more intertwined than the skeletal system. Sure, all bones are connected in one way or another, but you can sense the connection between muscles.
You could hold your arm in a sling to mend a broken arm, but a pulled hamstring is going to get inflamed when you move your back and shoulders. It’s a little more complex.
These issues require different stretching and strengthening practices to heal. The muscle has to have time to start recovering, but as soon as it’s ready, physical therapy gets used to start getting it back to a healthy place.
The pain of these issues is intense. There are a number of different injections and medications used to address muscular pain. Some prescription medications could be necessary to manage the pain you feel at first.
There are also a lot of alternative methods like pain-relieving ointments and CBD products. That said, intense pain might not be treatable with those alternative methods.
Finding Relief and Getting Treatment
If you’re experiencing something like the issues above, seek professional help. Professionals like the ones at Restore POC Prosthetics and Orthotics can even help you address instances when you lose a limb or appendage.
The thing to keep in mind, though, is that these issues won’t get any better if you just leave them. A pulled muscle in your back won’t work itself out. It could, but you’ll likely have other issues as a result of the time it took to heal.
Further, muscular issues come from activities that we participate in or lifestyle habits. Maybe you spend a lot of time on the computer and you pull muscles in your upper back whenever you exercise.
Maybe the structural alignment of your spine is a little off and you’re starting to have the pain of a slipped disc. It could also be something as slight as a poor posture that’s making you experience a lot of bodily pain.
Without the help of professionals, these issues will keep happening. Getting a chiropractic adjustment might be the trick to solving your back pain. Working with a physical therapist could be the thing that helps to adjust your lifestyle habits.
So, seek some help with any musculoskeletal issues you’re having. Getting help might be the difference in the mobility you have in old age. Plus, you’ll start to relieve that pain as soon as you go.
What’s holding you back?
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Musculoskeletal trauma is scary. There’s a big risk to your long-term health if you don’t get issues addressed right away. We’re here to help you with more information on what to do, though.
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