If you’re an active person, waiting on a wound to heal can be very frustrating. Just think about athletes who have to take weeks or months away from training while they wait for things to heal up. A lot of wound healing is waiting around, but did you know that there are things that you can do to speed the process?
Small changes in treatment and things you do before an injury can help a wound heal faster and get you back on your feet. You can aid your body’s response to an injury and deliver more resources it can use to heal the injured area.
Check out these tips you can use to heal a wound faster and get back to normal life sooner. Give them a shot and see what kind of results you get!
Rest the Injury
Rest, as most physicians will tell you, is perhaps the best thing you can do to heal a wound faster. Every day, people exacerbate injuries because they don’t rest properly. Once a scab is formed or scar tissue appears, people get back out there jogging and moving as nothing happened in the first place. This, of course, is a fast road to reinjury and longer healing times. You need to rest longer to give your body time to heal. Remember, it’s not just the surface that has to heal. Once the skin seals, a lot is still going on beneath the surface to repair nerve damage and build back blood vessels. Give it the time it needs.
Control Inflammation
Inflammation can prolong the healing process if not kept under control. When you have a wound, your white blood cells work into a frenzy to try and prevent infection and other negative side effects of an injury. It’s a good immune response, but it’s easy for an area to become inflamed and take longer to heal. Icing is a great way, along with rest and elevation, to control inflammation and help your wound heal faster.
Take Your Vitamins
Taking vitamin supplements is another great tip for people who want to heal a wound faster. Taking higher doses of something like Vitamin C gives your immune system a boost so it is more effective in responding to any injury. A lot of fruits are rich in Vitamin C as well if you want to shift your diet towards foods that will help you heal. Zinc is also a great supplement that will enhance body tissue repair.
Learn More About Peptides & Wound Healing
One peptide called IGF-1 DES may improve wound healing. Research studies indicate that inflammatory cytokines can alter IGFBP levels, impacting how long it takes a wound to heal. In animal models that were given IGF-1 DES, it’s possible to circumvent the effects of inflammatory cytokines and promote fibroblast growth, which are the cells responsible for tissue repair. More research is needed to determine the future medical possibilities and potential FDA approval.
Apply a Topical Ointment
Depending on your wound, you may be able to heal it faster by applying an antibacterial ointment to control inflammation and prevent infection. Not all wounds are suitable for ointments, though. For instance, topical ointments are typically not a good idea for burn wounds because they can slow the healing process. However, when treating a cut or some other wound, using aloe vera, and over the counter, bacterial ointment or some other cream designed to lower installation and soothe the wound can help.
When in doubt, talk to a medical professional about whether what you’re doing is good for wound healing. This is particularly true whenever someone is facing serious injuries or a life-threatening wound. In these cases, seek immediate medical attention. They can advise you against anything that will end up hurting you or keeping you sidelined longer than you’d like to be.
Give these methods a try and track the results. Remember, rest the injury long enough to heal properly. Otherwise, you risk reopening the wound and taking even longer to return to full health. Do what you can to control swelling by keeping the wound dry, elevated, and iced. These small steps will go a long way toward healing the wound faster and preventing reinjury.