5 Ways to Boost Healing

Why is healing taking so long?

Here’s 5 ways to boost healing: Have you ever found yourself wondering why healing is taking a bit longer than you expected? There is, of course, an average timeline for rehabilitation that varies depending on the nature of injury and individual factors. No two timelines will be exactly the same and a level of patience and persistence is essential for allowing that individualised process to unfold. However, there are several things that you can start incorporating into your self-treatment plan today that will boost healing more effectively. Further, they also form the framework for a prevention based approach to your health and well-being beyond your current injury.

 

The key to boost healing is…

…spending plenty of time with your nervous system in a state of regulation and trusting that your incredible body is always doing its best to maintain physiological balance. How do you get to that state? Perhaps you’ve heard of the terms ‘fight, flight or freeze’ and ‘rest and digest,’ which describe the outputs that occur during sympathetic nervous system arousal and parasympathetic nervous system arousal, respectively. No prizes for guessing which of those two states your brain would prefer to be in for something like tissue healing! A quick mention on sympathetic nervous system arousal — it’s not all bad, we need this component of our nervous system just as much as we need the parasympathetic. A worthy goal is to improve the flexibility between the two states so that we don’t get stuck operating in one over the other. 

Dialling down stress to boost healing

How can you support your body to dial down the stress load on your nervous system creating a more optimal environment for tissue healing? Chances are that the following five categories won’t be news to you at all. You might even roll your eyes at how common sense they are! I invite you then to consider them in a slightly different way. Instead of thinking you have to overhaul your whole life, wherever possible try to place value on even the smallest changes to support your nervous system to work on tissue healing. Let’s get stuck into it…

5 Ways to Boost Healing

1.Rest

Your body needs periods of rest in order to do many of the jobs required that keep your body working well. Effort brings reward, and so does rest! We need both. There are so many positive things happening on a physiological level when we give our brains and bodies chances to rest. We take this main rest overnight when we sleep. Tips to improve sleep incorporating bedtime rituals in the hours preceding bedtime that wind you down rather than stimulate you. Aside from sleep and particularly if sleep is challenging for you, even taking moments to rest throughout the day will benefit your physiology. It will also better prime your body for healing conditions. This might look like lying down or sitting comfortably for 5 mins and breathing calmly in and out through your nose. Doing this whilst allowing your body to fully relax into the support of the floor or chair will be highly beneficial.

2. Nutrition and toxins

What we ingest, through food, drink and through our lungs and skin, varies on a spectrum of helpful to less helpful for maintaining physiological harmony in our bodies. Some things we ingest, such as inflammatory foods, alcohol, and nicotine, can impair tissue healing. If reducing your intake of such foods and substances is on your radar, improved tissue healing is another reason to add the list of pros. If you don’t want to change what you’re ingesting, you can always start by trying an ‘AND’ principle. For example, you might not want to reduce intake of processed foods. So instead you continue to have processed foods AND increase your vegetable, fruit or water intake. All things that will support tissue healing.

3. Recognise and address habituated movement patterns

Step 1: 

Injuries without a clear trigger are sometimes attributed to habituated poor movement patterns repeated daily without conscious thought. Such patterns can develop from old injuries, emotional trauma, workplace ergonomics or repetition of daily tasks. Problems arise when chronic stress is placed on joints and soft tissue that aren’t designed to handle that stress. Begin to recognise where these patterns occur in your day.

Step 2: 

As you address tension and weakness, try to create new patterns of movement. Many of us can relate to sitting for a lot of the day. Restoring mobility and strength in your hips and core musculature and opting for some time in standing where possible can help to restore more balance and freedom in the way your body moves. Improving movement patterns will also reduce the likelihood of future injury, particularly when you are dealing with a chronic condition.

4. Psychological Stress

 

Psychological stress has an acute physiological response in your body. This includes a rise in inflammatory blood markers, increase in heart rate and blood pressure and mobilisation of energy from energy stores. Further, it has a chronic physiological effect on your body if stress remains elevated. In a state of stress and inflammation, your brain will not prioritise parasympathetic activities such as digestion or tissue healing. Stress will always be an essential part of life. The key is recognising it when it happens. Learn to move more flexibly between sympathetic activation and parasympathetic activation when the stressful event is over. To acutely reduce physiological stress, try sitting comfortably and spending three minutes breathing more evenly. Count 3-5 seconds in and then 3 – 5 seconds out through your nose.

5. Own your rehab journey

It is our job and passion to provide all the support and professional advice we can to facilitate an effective rehab journey! That said, you are always going to be the best manager of your own health and well-being. The more engaged you are in your rehab, the better your brain and body will respond. The quicker you’ll notice when something doesn’t feel right. Intuitively, you already know this tip, however, intuition can sometimes get lost in the rehab process. Although treatment might be given by your therapist, the rehab conversation will always be a two-way street. This will help you achieve the best outcomes for your condition. You know yourself best! Staying engaged with your health journey is a sure way to optimise your prescribed treatment plan.

Parting words:

Your body really is your most intelligent tool when it comes to healing. Small positive changes to any of the above five categories will support your body to heal. This will help you on your way back to optimal health.