Medically reviewed by Leann Poston M.D. on 9/25/20
Let’s face it – life can be rough sometimes. Injuries happen to us all at one time or another. Depending on your balance, coordination, overall health, level of activity, and sheer luck, you may be injured very infrequently, very frequently, or somewhere in between. Whatever the case may be, it’s a safe bet that, sooner than you care to think, you’ll likely encounter at least a minor injury. They can be simply a nuisance, or more severe injuries may be cause for real concern. In all cases, however, most people agree – once you are injured, the goal is to heal up and recover as quickly as possible. To that end, we put together a summary of some of the most common injuries, and tips to help you heal faster!
Statistics on injuries can be pretty intimidating. In any given year, around 10% of people in the US will seek treatment at a hospital for an injury (as opposed to a disease, illness, or other pathology). A significant additional percentage of people likely seek treatment from their doctor, walk-in-clinics, or similar settings, though the CDC doesn’t track those statistics. Still others suffer injury and don’t seek treatment, especially if it is minor, or treat themselves at home. That’s a lot of injuries across the whole population, and a lot of pain and lost time doing more enjoyable things than waiting around to heal. It’s no surprise, then, that one of the most common injury-related topics online today is all about how to heal faster, more completely, and leverage modern medicine and lifestyle to do it.
Below, we’ll look at some of the most common injuries the average person sustains, offer some background on the processes or mechanisms at play, and provide specific tips to help heal faster. At the end, we’ll list some general tips that can help anyone heal faster, regardless of injury type and whether or not it is included on our list. So, get ready to heal faster, more effectively, and recover more fully the next time you get injured, with a little help from Invigor Medical.
Before we get into the specifics on common injuries and the corresponding tips and techniques to help heal faster, it’s worth taking a moment to pause here. While we strive to always provide accurate, current, and safe advice in all of our articles and guides, it’s important to stress that they are no substitute for medical advice from a doctor or healthcare provider. You should always consult a practicing professional who can diagnose your specific case, especially if you have a serious injury, significant risk factors, are taking medications, or similar before you apply the tips and techniques discussed in this guide. Where conflicts may exist between these tips and medical advice from your doctor, your doctor’s advice should win out. The content we’ve included in this guide is merely meant to be informational, and does not constitute medical advice. Additionally, these are just tips – we’re not offering a comprehensive list of steps to take to deal with these injuries from a first aid standpoint. That’s another topic entirely for a future article. With all of that out of the way, let’s dive right in to our common injuries and the tips to help you heal faster.
Around 7.1% of all annual non-fatal injuries in the US are classified as cuts or pierces. Minor cuts typically can be treated with cleaning and a bandage, though deeper or more severe cuts may require sutures/stitches or staples in order to close fully. Cuts that are deep or intersect with major blood vessels, veins, or arteries may be a medical emergency requiring immediate treatment to avoid serious consequences.
Our tips to heal faster from cuts are primarily aimed at minor cuts that don’t require immediate medical intervention, and cuts that have been sutured and are in the process of healing.
Burns account for around 325,000 hospitalizations each year. There’s no question that moderate to severe burns require medical attention. However, many of us experience minor burns from time to time, often when cooking, or working with hot instruments like a glue gun, soldering iron, curling iron, clothes iron, or similar. They can be extremely unpleasant, often resulting in blisters which then pop and drain before the burned skin heals. Note that, here, we’re talking about thermal or electrical surface burns, not chemical burns or radiation burns, which are an entirely different beast and typically require immediate medical attention and washing of the affected area.
To help burns heal faster, and possibly not get as bad in the first place:
The causes of back pain are numerous and varied. It can be nerve-based (such as in the case of a trapped or irritated nerve), a symptom of a damaged or herniated disc in the vertebrae, or soft tissue (muscle, tendon, and ligament) in nature. The most common type of back pain is the result of overuse of back muscles, such as due to lifting too much and/or without stretching or proper form, pulling muscles due to sitting or sleeping in an odd position for too long, and similar.
For soft-tissue related back pain, tips to heal faster include:
There’s nothing quite like the exquisite pain of a calf muscle spasm, also known as a charley horse. Some people don’t seem to be affected as severely as others, and can simply stretch the muscle without much pain or discomfort. For others, Charley horses can be debilitating, with lasting pain and compromised function for days. While usually not severe enough to require hospitalization, they can be a right pain in the …or at least, in the leg.
Fortunately, there are some things you can do to help stop a Charley horse and associated pain quickly, and get your calf muscles back to full function more quickly:
Bloody noses can be vexing. Because of the delicate membranes in the nose, and the plethora of blood vessels in the face, it can seem like you are losing loads of blood, and that the nose is taking forever to stop bleeding. It can also start back up again when you least expect it. While most cases are not serious, nosebleeds that cannot be stopped or occur regularly may require medical intervention, or be the sign of more serious health problems.
For occasional, minor nosebleeds, you can get them to stop faster, and help reduce the likelihood of recurrence in the hours and days that follow, with the following tips:
Two of the most common accident or overextension injuries are sprains of the ankle or wrist. Both are the result of either awkward or unnatural movements of the ligaments that connect the bones at the respective joints, such as when you fall, step/swing/throw awkwardly, jump or turn and land poorly or move the wrist with great force suddenly, or suffer an impact such as when playing sports. This destabilizes the joints and causes stress, ruptures, or tears in the ligaments around the joint, resulting in pain and decreased function for days or weeks. Severe sprains may require professional medical help and immobilization, such as with a brace or sling.
Minor sprains can heal faster and present fewer problems if you:
Below are some all-purpose tips that can help promote healing and overall health. They’re applicable to almost any injury, whether featured on our list or not and will help you heal faster and more completely. That’s especially true when combined with the specific tips for injuries we’ve mentioned above.
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Learn About NAD+When in doubt, go to a doctor or clinic to have an injury looked at and professionally treated. If there’s any question as to whether or not a particular injury is severe enough to warrant it, just do it. It’s better to err on the side of caution than end up not treating something serious, and it getting worse or becoming a permanent disability.
While we strive to always provide accurate, current, and safe advice in all of our articles and guides, it’s important to stress that they are no substitute for medical advice from a doctor or healthcare provider. You should always consult a practicing professional who can diagnose your specific case. The content we’ve included in this guide is merely meant to be informational and does not constitute medical advice.