This pretty common phrase for someone with lower back pain. I am sure you have heard it.
All paint a pretty nasty picture of damage, pain and problems right?
Here is the thing about disc injuries you probably haven’t been told.
This blog really is worth reading all the way to the end!
A disc is a living tissue!
Living tissues heal.
And the body is the one hell of a good healer when we are injured.
Now like any living tissue, a disc also goes through a process to heal.
The process of tissue healing is similar across all tissues within the body.
A disc is no different to injuring your skin via cutting it with a knife (that sounds nasty too!)
There will be bleeding…
There will be inflammation…
There will be pain…
There will be some yelling, screaming, crying, whining, moaning, groaning, guarding, cursing and loss of function.
When we cut out skin though we can visibly see this full process occur from start to finish.
However when we injure a disc we can’t see it, but we certainly feel it.
Just like the skin that you see heal, the disc does the same.
Bleeding and inflammation are necessary.
This creates an environment for tissue healing to begin.
A scab will develop.
Below that new and fresh tissue will begin to lay down.
It will be red, raised, tender and painful to move and touch.
If we do something stupid it may re-bleed, then re-scab and begin repair ultimately slowing things down a bit.
But the end result of tissue healing still occurs regardless.
Now, as more new tissue develops below the scab goes away, we are left with a raised scar.
Depending on the size of the injury, that scar can be minor or much more visible and thickened.
It maybe visible for a short or long period of time. Possibly even the rest of your life if you look close enough.
Much like when we perform an MRI of the back, an injured disc may leave behind signs of previous injury and damage for us to see long into the future.
Does that make it forever damaged?
Or is it just a sign that the body has done what the body does best.
Healing is one thing in life you can be assured of.
A full recovery from pain to previous levels of function is much more complex, multifactorial and individual than we currently pay credit to!!
