In ‘Got Inflammation…Part 1′ we learned that Inflammation is a Process that kicks in -any- time the body feels pain.

And we learned that pain causes the body to tighten muscles and release a chemical that enhances your sensitivity to pain…which makes you feel more pain which makes the body increase the Process of Inflammation.

Today we are going to talk about how that works in a situation like Tendonitis and Repetitive Strain Injury.

Next time in ‘Got Inflammation…Part 3′ we’ll discuss what this means when you have a larger and even systemic inflammatory state which can be caused by such issues as Gluten Intolerance, H Pylori overgrowth, and similar issues.

So let’s say you spend a lot of time at a computer keyboard.  And/or you knit, crochet, or do some other hand intensive motion repeatedly day after day.

Over time, the muscles get tighter, and shorter.

When muscles are tight, they are like a half squeezed sponge.  They have a hard time getting waste product and old fluid out, and a hard time getting new blood and new nutrition in.

Then you feel some ache, but it goes away.

Then it returns, and stays a while longer, but goes away.

As your muscles get tighter and tighter, and you continue to perform repetitive motions, you start to get tiny wear and tear injury to the tissue of the tendon and other connective tissue.

This can turn into true tendonitis, as scar tissue begins to form, fibers continuously laying down on top of each other.

Structurally, scar tissue is not as strong as the original tissue…..so fibers rip and tear off easily…..which tells the body there is an injury and something  needs to be done about it.

Something like……INFLAMMATION!

 

 

You ache, and then hurt.  It still comes in waves, but starts to return faster and hurt more.

You body compensates for this as long as it can.  You generally don’t feel the tightness or notice the inflammation and its effects until the dynamic is firmly entrenched.
This continues until you really start to worry about it.  Maybe even do something about.
Predictably, at some point, your body gives up the fight and goes “I’ve done all I can!  Now it’s YOUR problem!”

At which point you are suddenly in A LOT of pain.  Even disabling pain. This is when most people decide that it’s time to go see the doctor.

The way inflammation works with your body, it is important to understand that you were actually in a lot of pain before that, but your body just wasn’t telling your conscious brain about it.

Localized inflammation is insidious.  It’s constantly present in all the tissue in the area, and the tissue is constantly sending signals to the brain that it is pain.  And the brain responds in the way it thinks is best…..with more tightness and more inflammation.
For the most part, localized inflammation just stays in a specific area, like the forearm/hand, shoulder, neck, feet/ankle, etc.

And the worse the inflammation is, the more chemical gets dumped into the area, and this can begin to spread to neighboring tissue, making that hurt/sore too.

There are some important functions of Inflammation, like sending in scar tissue to heal damage and an army of white blood cells to help the immune system fight invaders.

This is good.

But inflammation also tells the body that there is pain, and the chemical from inflammation makes you hurt more, and the body responds to this by tightening muscles and increasing the Inflammatory Response.

This creates a feedback loop, a Downward Spiral of tightness and pain.
The human body is incredibly amazing in a lot of ways.  Inflammation is not one of them.

And that’s just in one body part.  What happens when you have Systemic Inflammation?  And how does that affect your Immune System?

Stay tuned for Part 3.

Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.

The Tendonitis Expert

www.TendonitisExpert.com