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Soft Tissue Injury and the Painful Reality of Scar Tissue

Do you or a loved one have ongoing, long-term chronic pain in your spine or other joints after an injury, like whiplash from a car accident, or a sports injury, or other traumatic episode? Chances are, the source is SCAR TISSUE.

Break a bone? It heals with new bone, and is stronger where it broke after healing. Once a fracture heals there is no ongoing pain or dysfunction. On the other hand, damage a ligament, or cartilage (the soft ‘connective tissue’ that connects bones to bones in joints, and muscles to bones), and such structures heal with scar tissue. Scar tissue is not the same material as the ligament or cartilaginous tissue. It’s a patchwork material - a cheap imitation actually. And as such - it can end up giving us a lifetime of pain and dysfunction in the joints we have injured.

The illustration above is of two vertebrae. The structures in blue are an example of some of the soft tissue cartilage and ligaments that connect one spinal bone to another. We find similar structures connecting all the bones that make up the joints of the body, such as the spinal column, knees, ankles, hips, wrists, etc.

The cartilage and ligaments holding joints together are quite commonly damaged or torn when a traumatic episode of some kind forces the joint to move beyond its normal range of motion. Examples are things like torn ankle ligaments (sprained ankle) when stepping off a curb and having your foot buckle badly, or the excessive joint motion that takes place during a whiplash episode in a rear-end auto collision. These kinds of injuries are often referred to as sprains, and they are graded on a scale of severity.

The excessive and forceful backward and forward motion of the head in a rear end collision is almost always, to some degree, going to cause ligament damage in the neck. And just as with the sprained ankle, or any other joint that becomes injured in this way, the healing will occur with scar tissue… which once again, is:

• weaker

• stiffer

• more sensitive

What Can We Do?

It all comes down to minimizing the amount of scar we develop, and then managing the scar tissue we end up with.

Minimization 

This takes place immediately following an injury to a joint, and for the next few days to several weeks depending on severity. Connective tissue injuries are the same as any other kind of wound. In the initial healing stages resting the joint - keeping it still, bracing if needed, and applying ice is the key.

If you damage the tissue that hold joints in alignment, they can misalign. If they stay even slightly misaligned, you may develop excessive scarring. This is were skilled chiropractic care can be beneficial. Carefully applied adjustments to sprained joints can help them remain aligned in the early stages of healing - minimizing scar development. Chiros are only class of doctors trained to do this effectively. Whether you have a sprained ankle, or whiplash from a car accident, or any other joint injury, you should have it evaluated by a doctor of chiropractic.

Management

Scarring is a patchwork process that can unfortunately ‘glue’ the affected joint up, causing long-term restriction of motion. Scar tissue also tends to tighten up over time, which can further restrict your ability to move the affected joint. To make matters worse, scar tissue is more sensitive to stress and strain which can make it a chronic source of pain. There are three things we can do to help prevent much of this pain and stiffness:

• stretching/flexibility work

• chiropractic adjustments

• anti-inflammatory dietary lifestyle

Stands to reason that controlled and properly timed stretching can help make scar tissue more pliable and therefore less sensitive. This is not a ‘one size fits all’ matter however, and is best determined one-on-one in an evaluation with a skilled chiropractor or physical therapist.

Chiropractic adjustments, when timed appropriately can gently break up the gluey aspects of joint scarring, commonly called adhesions.

Chiropractors are grand universal champions of breaking up gluey adhesions with chiropractic adjustments. Having this kind of care during the healing process can make a big difference. And periodic chiropractic care on a wellness level to keep scarring from advancing, tightening, and shutting down your mobility - one of best things we have to offer folks with soft tissue injuries.

SN - Many of you reading this have seen me in the past for car accident related soft tissues injuries. A periodic chiropractic visit to address your scar tissue is worth consideration if you are not already doing so!

Permanent Injury? Scarred for Life?

Because scar tissue is weaker, stiffer, and more sensitive than normal tissue, if you have it in one or more of your joints, there will always be a potential for stiffness and pain. The strategies outlined above are a good introduction to the work needed to minimize this and prevent this sort of thing from robbing your quality of life.

Hey - Didn’t I also mention diet?

If you read my prior newsletter on chronic inflammation (CI) and diet you know where this is headed.

Many of the foods we commonly consume irritate scar tissue ( and a host of there tissues in the body). These foods cause our immune systems to produce caustic chemical substances that scar tissue can be extremely sensitive to - like squeezing lemon juice on a paper cut. The short answer for a solution to this is to go on, and stay on a Paleo type diet. It is truly amazing what this can do for reducing joint pain, and host of other disease processes. For a longer discussion of this please click on “READ ONLINE” at the top of this newsletter and scroll down to find the newsletter on Chronic Inflammation.