From the category archives:

Factors Effect Healing

Healing Factors

in Factors Effect Healing

Factors that Help Healing:


  1. Controlling the Inflammation: Inflammation inhibits the healing process. This is why it is so important to control and diminish inflammation.
  2. Ice Pack: Cold compression helps to decrease inflammation by decreasing the tissue damage at the cellular level. Cold also constricts tissue reducing cell damage, and decreasing fluid release.
  3. Nutrition Rich Diet
    • Vitamin C: Main precursor to tissue repair and collagen formation.
    • Copper: Mineral needed in soft tissue or collagen repair.
    • Protein: Specifically lysine and proline are amino acids required for soft tissue (collagen) repair.
  4. Controlled Active and Passive Motion
    • Increases Circulation
    • Decreases Swelling
  5. Muscle Stimulation
    • Increase oxygen rich blood and nutrients needed for soft tissue healing.

Factors that Inhibit Healing:


  1. Age and Severity of Condition
    • Longer we have a problem it can heal wrong and now become permanent
    • Age-Decreased metabolism and therefore the body’s ability to heal itself.
  2. Osteoarthritis: Result of old injuries that have permanently healed wrong to some degree.
  3. Tissue type: Not all tissue heals same due decrease levels of circulation
    • Cartilage-Heals very Slow
    • Muscle-Heals quick
    • Tendons-Heal slow
    • Ligaments-Heal very slow
    • Nerves-Heal very slow if at all
    • Discs-Heal very Slow
  4. Swelling: Inhibits the body’s’ normal healing process. The repair phase occurs after inflammation and swelling.
  5. Hemorrhage: Damaged cells release chemicals irritants that are pro-inflammatory and inhibit the healing process.
  6. Scar Tissue from old injuries: Alter and inhibit the repair phase of healing.
  7. Infection: Releases cellular chemicals irritants that cause pain and are pro-inflammatory.
  8. Poor Nutrition
    • Lack Vitamin C: Needed for collagen formation in the repair phase of healing
    • Lack Copper: Needed for collagen formation
    • Lack Protein: Specifically lysine and proline are needed for collagen (repair) tissue.
  9. Medications that inhibit collagen formation:
    • NSAIDS: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
    • Aspirin
    • Motrin
    • Ibuprofen
    • Corticosteroids
  10. Smoking
    • Significantly decrease oxygen supply to the tissue
    • Stimulates vasoconstriction, decreasing oxygen and nutrition to the affected area.
    • Increases platelet adhesiveness

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