Have you ever hurt yourself before and the area that was injured swelled up? I think it is safe to say that everyone has experienced this at some point in their life. The swelling or inflammation that occurs is very important to us and is crucial for recovery.
The inflammatory process begins as soon as the injury occurs. Many people think it occurs at a certain time after the injury but this not true.1 The damaged tissue immediately begins bleeding so our bodies have a defense system to repair itself. Our body has to get rid of the damaged tissue and regenerate new tissue in place of the old that was injured. Our damaged tissue dies because it loses its oxygen supply and must be replaced.1
We don’t want to totally eliminate swelling from happening after an injury but we want to control it. If we don’t allow for some inflammation, our body can’t repair itself. At the same time we don’t want there to be too much swelling because this can lead to further damage of our surrounding tissues. Our body sends chemicals and different cells to clean up the injured area and this what causes swelling.2 There are many of different cells that are made just for this process. Macrophages, neutrophils, leukocytes, phagocytes, and cytokines are a majority of the cells that are present at some point during the inflammatory process.2 They all have different jobs and they all come at different times.
The combination of bleeding and the immune system sending chemicals and cells to the injured area causes swelling and inflammation.1 This process is very important for regeneration to take place. This information may allow you to heal properly next time you hurt yourself.
References
1Starkey, C. (2013). The Injury Process. In Therapeutic Modalities (4th ed., pp. 12-15). Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Company.
2Tidball, J. (2005). Inflammatory Processes in Muscle Injury and Repair. American Journal of Physiology. Regulatory, Intigrative and Comparative Physiology, 288(2), 345-53. Retrieved January 30, 2015, from PubMed.
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