Thoughts on Pain: Part 3

Time: the greatest healer?

We've been lied to for years... 
They always say that time is the greatest healer, but whoever 'they' are, I'm pretty sure they're wrong. Sure, things get healed over the course of time, but it is not time that does the healing. If something is broken, it will remain broken until it is fixed, not just until a certain amount of time passes.


I can't count the number of times patients have come in to see me a couple of months after injuring themselves and tell me that they thought it would just get better on its own. 


Let's take a little (very simplistic) trip down science lane, with pictures...
The fibres in your soft tissue (muscles, ligaments, tendons) are laid down in a uniform order, a bit like this:

When you get injured, your body throws new fibres at the injured area, but it gets lazy and throws them down in a random order, a bit like this:

This new tissue technically patches up the injury, but can cause more problems than it does good. Scar tissue is weaker and less flexible than the original tissue, making it more likely to get damaged again. Added to that, the nerves within the new tissue can conduct pain more effectively than in the original tissue, meaning more pain.

So it is with emotional wounds over time. If we don’t acknowledge and do something about our emotional injuries, the next time something similar happens...
               our capacity to cope is less
                                    driving the wound deeper
                                            making it even more difficult to heal.

With this sort of injury, physio treatment is aimed at realigning the tissue fibres, allowing the tissue to heal in an organised way, more similar to the natural way the tissue is supposed to be structured. The treatment hurts. Often, it involves rubbing hard across the damaged area. Anyone who has experienced will tell you it’s not pleasant! 

And again, with emotions, so often, you have to dig up the painful stuff, talk about things that hurt to talk about, confront things that that you would rather leave alone. It hurts, it hurts so much. But the result has got to be worth it. Getting to the other side, having healthy tissue and a healthy heart:

It’s difficult, but so is staying in the pain.