(Video) Low Back Pain: Get the Answers You Need – Part 2

How can I know if I need a telehealth visit or if I should suffer it out for a couple of weeks and possibly get better?

To answer this question we really need to ask, “how does the body heal to begin with?” Anytime we have an injury, our body goes through certain processes. First, the body becomes aware that there is something wrong. Injuries are damage to the tissues of the body, and within every tissue are small blood vessels. When an injury takes place and there is a bruise, tear, sprain, or strain, there is always a little bleeding and swelling. Within that blood and swelling are growth factors that help the body heal and instruct the damaged cells on what to do. Typically, it takes about 72 hours for that initial inflammation to subside, during which your body is developing a plan on what to do.

Inflammation is not always bad and is oftentimes a good thing because it organizes the body’s repair response. We recognize inflammation as the pain that comes with it, but even pain has a role to create awareness that your body needs rest to repair. So sometimes, it’s better to let the inflammation continue rather than try to suppress it with ice or anti-inflammatory medicine.

After these first few days, the pain from the injury should begin to fade and become more manageable. For some, the pain from an injury is very bad and will not go away or decrease even after the first few days. If this happens, by all means, set up an appointment. Our staff at Wellward is trained to do acute or new-onset injury evaluations. We can figure out what is wrong and help diagnose issues virtually or even over the phone; we don’t always need to be in-person to help. We can let you know if your injury is something that will get better on its own, or if we need to intervene in order to accelerate the healing process and make you better in less time. At the very least, we can help provide peace of mind.

Any time you are experiencing pain, please don’t hesitate to contact us as we are here to help. This is especially important if your pain is lasting longer than 2-3 weeks with no real improvement. It is much easier for us to help fix a problem before it becomes a chronic pain and we want to empower you to live your life to the fullest.