Have you ever asked yourself, “why do I always hurt,” or “why is it taking so long to get better (from my cold, injury, surgery)? Well, it has to do with your “healing environment.” Normal healing takes 3 to 6 weeks, given the right environment. Whether you cut yourself, sprain your wrist, break your leg or have some type of surgery, it’s going to take weeks to fully recover, dependent on the strategies you employ. You rest, reduce your activity level, maybe take pain relievers, hopefully increase your vitamin and mineral intake, possibly get some sort of therapy to help improve recovery. You did all this and you still hurt? Oh, you don’t have time to do any of the above except pop some pills when the pain is too great?
If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’re going to keep getting what you get. Remember, the environment that you allow for your body to function properly also has to deal with your injury or illness, and you cannot expect to function at 100% if you’re not feeling 100%. This is why you have to rest; either your whole body or that body part that is injured. Secondly, you must provide enough nutrients to help in the repair of the injured area, and you are going to need protein and amino acids, which you can get with meat and food combinations, such as beans and rice, corn and beans, dairy and nuts/grains. Adding a multivitamin to your diet might be helpful, as well as eating 5 to 6 times a day. Thirdly, you have to watch your posture and your activity level. If you either sit too long, have poor posture, or overuse the injured body part, you will continually aggravate the injured area and compromise the healing process. All the aforementioned strategies are going to help you to heal, otherwise you will postpone complete recovery and end up with a chronic condition that just won’t go away. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, “your biomechanic on the road to good health.”