Five Key Factors Influencing Tissue Healing Times

Whether you threw your back out or herniated a disc, your body is always working to heal and recover. While this process is happening, there are many things we can do to help the process along and prevent it from becoming chronic pain.

1. Severity and involved tissue

Muscles heal quicker than ligaments or tendons, which heal quicker than nerve injuries. There's a great summary chart created by @ThePhysioFix neatly demonstrating this. Obviously, the more serious the injury (and the less you pay attention to these factors), the longer it will take to heal.

It's important to note that your general health status affects the severity of an injury. A sedentary, diabetic person will take longer to heal than an active, generally healthy person with the same injury.

2. Hydration

Dehydrated tissues heal slower. This doesn't just refer to drinking water in a general sense but to keeping the injured tissue supplied with rich blood flow. This is partly why muscles heal quicker than ligaments, for example, because muscles have a continuous rich supply of blood flow.

We can amplify this blood flow by moving the injured area however we can. This is also why bed rest can, at times, be counterproductive for healing.

3. Nutrition

Protein needs increase during tissue healing because protein makes up the building blocks of nearly everything in the body. If your body doesn't have the resources it needs, it can't recover optimally.

You don't necessarily need 1 gram per lb of bodyweight like most will have you believe, but having around 0.7-0.8 grams per lb of bodyweight is a good place to start.

4. Sleep

Likewise, if we don't have enough recovery time through sleep, we won't heal as well. Sleep is essential for tissue repair and supports every other factor listed.

When we sleep better, we tend to eat better. When we sleep better, we tend to move better and feel better while doing it.

5. Movement and loading

Circulation was already mentioned, and that comes from movement. What's also key is appropriate loading of the injured tissue in order to bring its capacity and tolerance back up again.

The biggest reason people get stuck in a cycle of injury, healing, and re-injury is that they attempt to immediately return to what they normally do without properly rehabbing and building the injured tissue back up again.

Every one of these factors is under our control to some degree. And the better you understand how to optimize these factors, the quicker and more effectively you'll bounce back from injury.

To your good health,

Coach Stephen

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Thanks for reading.

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