How well do you heal?

I don't bruise easily. If I take a hard knock I usually get a swelling. Bruising is slight and fades quickly. On the other hand, I scar easily. Any cut/scrape that breaks through all the way through my skin, no matter how small, is guaranteed to leave a scar. These fade over time, but are still there if you know where to look. I've pulled a couple of muscles over the years, and if I get tired/run down over an extended period my lower back hurts where I pulled it in PE class 20 years ago. I've never broken a bone despite an active childhood so I can't comment on that.

What about the rest of you? Any injuries you seem particularly susceptible to? Anything that takes longer to heal than it should, or something that still "reminds" you after many years?

 

Lower back goes alarmingly regularly for me

Last year I sprained my quadratus lumbar, and it is still painful. I go through every day with considerable pain/stiffness, especialy after training

 

I'm generally pretty supple (or was in my youth) and that always seemed to lead to joint strains, twinges and aches (as well as wicked head kicks from the get-go!).

 

lower back has always been a problem spot for me, I think because I was always very harsh on it as a kid, lifting with my back etc. Nowadays it doesnt take too much to make it go bad, but as I've learned to rest it it tends to recover pretty quick too.

I also get the hard-to-bruise, easy-to-scar thing. Taking shots almost never leaves bruising, even when its been street situations the bruising is very minor, very faint, and is almost always gone by the next morning. Scarring though occurs quite easily. Even fingernail scratches leave scarring if they're deep enough, splitting the skin on my knees or elbows leaves scars every time too, even pad + mat burns stay as scars.

 

I have broken my pinky... Lol
And my right shoulder got an injury that lasted for a year and still bothered me every now and then a few years ago, but since I've built muscle around it it hasn't given me trouble.

I guess my joints are the problem spots for me, even though I'm only 18.

 

I usually heal pretty rapidly. Side effect of having a ramjet engine for a metabolism I think.

 

I heal cuts and bruises quickly, but joint and muscle injuries very slowly.

 

Everything now that I am getting older, it seems.

 

I actually collapsed last week walking across the bathroom floor....well "crumpled" would be more accurate.

Essentially my lumbar gets fatigued and tells the rest of my body to go screw itself and I take 3 minutes to regain some form of composure

 

Nothing thanks to the benefit's of youth

To be honest though, nothing really takes a while to heal for me. Sprains are sometimes a female dog and a half to deal with, but for the most part I heal rapidly. Broken arm healed in 2 weeks!

 

It depends what it is. I dont tend to bruise or bleed much. I have a lot of blood tests and they always tell me not to move my arm to prevent these but it never seems to happen. I used to sprain my ankles alot, side effect of try to follow a kelpie across the rocks, but they usually healed within a week or two.
Now however muscle pulls seem to take forever to heal, especially groin muscles. Happily I dont have any back probs like Frodo or Hannibal.

 

I don't so much HEAL, as much as I go to bed and wake up having forgotten what silliness I did the evening before, and mind over matter does the rest

 

my ligaments are always the thing that gets damaged.
not from lifting but BJJ.

 

I heal pretty well, I have found that when I am starting to pick up injuries they stack rapidly and I am very aware of them, EG training on a weak ankle my opposite knee is likely the next thing to go.

Biggest problem I've faced is just overall battering, like when you are putting in 3 classes a day on woodfloors and picking up bruises, you don't want to fall on your left hip due to a big bruise so you fall onto something else (where it isn't natural to land from the movement, such as thigh, or other hip) and stack up those bumps again...

I typically up protein consumption and sometimes add creatine to help recovery.

Any other solutions to speed up recovery times?

 

i'm very fortunate with healing, everything from cuts and scrapes to sprains and doms heals up mega quick for me.

the only things are cuts on my hands that tend to become sores or calloused because i work with my hands, train a lot and i'm always in the garden or tinkering with machinery so they dont have a chance to heal or get full of nasty.

issues with joints can be kept at bay with correct movement patterns and mobility/stretching for the majority of your life, as you get older though i'm sure stuff just starts to 'go'

i worry about these dudes who are 18 been training a year and complaining with beat up shoulder/hips/elbows i dont know if its faulty movement patterns, silly trainign or just because it sounds hardcore to be beat up like a 40 year old powerlifter.

i know i'm going to suffer for my sins in 40 years or so but i take every step to avoid inflamation and excessive wear and tear while keeping up a high training volume.

 

agreed, agreed and reducing inflamation with fish oil, avoiding pro inflamitory foods, nettle extract and if totally nessisary NSAIDs

 

My sympathies. That must really reduce your quality of life. Is it from a previous injury? Or just bad luck?

I don't mind bumps and bruises but I've always been wary of muscle injury and I'm very protective of my joints. At 36 it's tempting to say I'm in good shape, but I've never suffered a serious injury. I have no way of knowing how I'd recover from a muscle tear or broken bone.

Seriously? As in cast removed, arm mobile? How bad was the break? I always thought 4-6 weeks was the norm even for a young person.

 

Injuries done in youth usually ache or cause problems with aging