Healing Phases

Healing Phases of An Auto Accident

Questions we often hear in our practice after an auto injury is
-“How quickly will I feel better” or
-“I was only lightly tapped, I don’t have any pain. Why do I need to get checked?”

So we wanted to break down the different phases of healing after a trauma (no matter how big or little). In an article by Dr. John Kellett in the journal Medicense and Science in Sports and Exercise, he puts the healing phases into three distinct categories:

Phase 1: The Acute Inflammatory Phase
Typically lasting 72 hours. Your body typically swells and stiffens as your immune system goes to work to remove excess toxins, debris, and repairs the injury to your soft tissue.

Phase 2: The Repair Phase
This typically begins 48 hours and lasts up to 6 weeks depending on the severity of your injury. Your body and soft tissue are beginning to repair itself with the help of your collagen beginning to remodel to increase the functional capabilities of your tendons or ligaments, to help withstand the stressed areas.

Phase 3: Remodeling Phase
This phase can last up to 12 months or more. This is critical in establishing the ultimate quality and functional capabilities for your healed tissue.

In your initial and complimentary consultation at our office, we review your injuries with you verbally but also run you through a range of motion exams. This allows our Doctors to decipher the severity of your injury and discuss with you the time frame of your care to get you back to the appropriate quality of life you want to have as quickly as possible. No, that doesn’t mean we want to keep you under intense care. Our goal in our office is to get you functioning at your peak so we don’t have to see you as often!