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DESCRIPTION:
Immobilization, also known as stress deprivation, refers to the lack of movement of specific areas of the body. It can occur as the result of an accident, an injury and is one of the components of the typical modern medical sports injury treatment regime called RICE. RICE involves rest, ice, compression and elevation, in which rest and elevation immobilize the injured area. Immobilization syndrome refers to the results of short-term as well as long-term immobilization. It includes very stiff joints, muscle atrophy, joint degeneration and chronic pain. Immobilization syndrome is a painful component of conditions such as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome (RSDS), osteoarthritis and frozen shoulder, also known as adhesive capsulitis.
How does immobilization syndrome develop?
Immobilization is extremely detrimental to the body’s joints and ligaments. It causes the following changes to occur inside the joints:
- proliferation of fatty connective tissue
- cartilage damage and necrosis
- scar tissue formation and articular cartilage tears
- increased randomness of the collagen fibers within the ligaments and connective tissues
- ligament weakening, with a decreased resistance to stretch
Immobilization of an injured joint, such as the knee, causes the area to become weaker and thinner, which can lead to a stiff joint. This is due to a combination of adhesions in the joint and/or shortening of the ligaments, and weakening of the site where ligaments and tendons insert to bone.
Injuries are not the only culprits that lead to immobilization. Inactivity is another, one that can particularly affect the elderly. For example, an activity as simple as walking can nourish the joints in the hips and the knees. Inactivity, on the other hand, can lead to a vicious spiral of disuse, no nourishment to the hip and knee joints, cartilage degeneration and pain, which leads to even less movement and makes the likelihood of starting an activity even slimmer, resulting in a downward spiral of joint deterioration and pain.
What are the symptoms of immobilization syndrome?
Symptoms of immobilization syndrome include stiffness and pain experienced once the affected area is moved again, with the degree of pain and stiffness dependent on the individual as well as the original cause of the immobilization and its duration.
Conventional medical treatments may help relieve the symptoms of immobilization syndrome pain, but they do not address the root of the problem. By strengthening structural weaknesses in the body, as natural medicine treatments like Prolotherapy do, immobilization syndrome pain may be alleviated permanently.
Discover why we believe that natural medicine treatments are the best way to treat immobilization syndrome pain.
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