What really happens when you get injured.

  If you are an active person you have undoubtedly been hurt at some point. As we get older (I’m 37 so I feel ya) our bodies do not move nor recover the same way as our younger selves did. Even myself have fallen victim to injuries. Typically, injuries fall into two categories: Macrotrauma and Microtrauma. 

Macrotrauma 

Macrotrauma is the specific, sudden episode of trauma to a part of the body. 

Severe trauma to bones lead to a contusion (bone bruise) or a fracture (closed, open, avulsed, incomplete are various classifications). If your a college football fan the past few weeks two bone fractures occurred in playoff caliper teams (Florida State and Michigan)

Joints on the other hand can either be dislocated (complete displacement of joint surface) or subluxation (partial displacement of joint surface). Examples would be a dislocated shoulder, finger, etc. These typically present with visible configuration or discoloration of the affected area.

Ligament trauma is classified into sprains which are further broken down into degrees of injury. A First degree sprain includes a partial tear with joint stability. Second degree sprains have partial tears with minor joint instability and a third degree sprain is a complete tear with full joint instability. One of the more common sprains is the ankle. Depending on the degree of sprains it can be a few days to a few weeks of recovery. 

Muscles can suffer from either a contusion (direct trauma to the muscle). Muscle contusion is visibly diagnosed by accumulation of blood and fluid to the affected area. A muscle strain has various degrees (much like ligaments). A first degree sprain is a partial tear of muscle fibers. The muscle itself is strong, but painful. A second degree encompasses partial tears of the muscle which are weak and painful. A third degree is a complete tear of the tissue coupled with weakness and painlessness.

Microtrauma  

Microtrauma is repeated, overuse of stress applied to the tissue. This typically comes from continuous training without proper rest. (ever try running on an injured leg? Keep going and your more than likely going to suffer through microtrauma. Read about David Goggins and how he broke his legs going through BUDS. That is more than likely stemming from continued overuse. Repeated stress to bones leads to stress fractures (ie Goggins going through training). Tendons suffer through tendonitis (inflammation of tendons). Untreated tendonitis may lead to chronic tendonitis.

Now that you understand injuries and how they happen. This is what happens to the body while you're injured. The body generally has three responses to injuries.

1. Inflammatory Response Phase

Inflammation is the initial reaction to injuries which is the red and swollen visuals that happen. This is due to the increased blood flow to the affected area. During this time part of the tissue dies and is removed by increased blood flow to the injured area. As you can imagine this is the aspect of injuries that causes the most pain.

2. Fibroblastic Repair Phase

Once inflammation ends the tissue goes through repair. (Think when construction workers lay new roads. They typically remove damaged parts of the road first then lay down new roads). The new “road” in your body is type three collagen tissue. Initially the body lays down new collagen randomly. Laying down new tissue is sensitive to injury due to incomplete direction and foundation.

3. Maturation-Remodeling Phase

During this phase the tissue becomes stronger. The type three collagen initially laid shifts to longitudinally position to the stressed area and became type one collagen. The type one is stronger and becomes thicker with time. This is the longest of the three phases as it typically lasts from months to years.

Depending on injury, age, and lifestyle define how well or how fast you react to tissue healing. The ultimate goal is to heal tissue and return to full function.