SPORTS INJURIES
MEAT: Why We Recommend It
Movement and exercise,
the first two recommendations of MEAT, have been
shown to be very effective at enhancing ligament
and tendon
healing. Animals that are allowed to mobilize their joints will
have significantly greater tensile strength in the healing
ligaments than in animals whose healing
ligaments were immobilized.
Exercise
can increase the strength in an injured
ligament by 50 percent compared to a non-exercised group. (Tipton, C.
Influence of physical activity on the strength of knee ligaments in rats.
American Journal of Physiology. 1967; 212:783-787.;Burroughs, P. The effect of
enforced exercise on the healing of ligament injuries. American Journal of
Sports Medicine. 1990; 18:376-378.)
Perhaps the most important ligaments
for the athlete are those in the knee.
Numerous studies have shown that exercise increases the strength of the knee
ligaments when they are injured. (Viidik, A. Elasticity and tensile
strength of the anterior cruciate ligament in rabbits as influenced by training.
Acta Physiol Scand. 1968; 74:373-380.;Laros, G. Influence of physical activity
on ligament insertions in the knees of dogs. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.
1971; 53A:275-285.)
In one study, the anterior
cruciate ligament was strengthened by a statistically significant amount
with exercise. Exercising the knee six days
per week, instead of three days per week also produced the most improvement in ligament
strength.
The medial
collateral ligament (MCL)
of the knee
has also been shown to heal better with early motion and exercise in athletes.
One study showed that compared to immobilization,
movement of the knee
for 12 weeks after a medial collateral
ligament injury increased the stability
of the knee by over 50 percent. This study won the 1986 Excellence in
Research Award from American Journal of Sports Medicine. The authors concluded,
"In confirmation with previous studies, prolonged immobilization
was shown to have deleterious effects on MCL
healing. The results of this study indicated that early mobilization is the
treatment of choice in cases of isolated MCL injury."
(Woo, S. Treatment of the medial collateral ligament injury. American Journal
of Sports Medicine. 1987; 15:22-29.)
The same results have also been shown for healing lateral
ankle sprains. The early mobilized group had less pain and returned to full
capacity quicker compared to the immobilized group. (Eiff, M. Early
mobilization versus immobilization in the treatment of lateral ankle sprains.
American Journal of Sports Medicine. 1994; February: 83-88.)
It is clear that exercise and mobility are significantly better for healing
than immobility and rest
for ligaments.
Do not get too excited, however, the repair and regeneration
begins within the first few days and occurs for the next six weeks. From week
six until 12 months, the injured
ligament undergoing repair remodels, contracts, and gains some tensile
strength. Even though ligaments
heal for a full year after the injury,
after 12 months the strength of the ligament
is generally only 50 to 70 percent of the original ligament
strength. Imagine the status of the ligament
strength at day four or two weeks after the injury? This fact is an example of
why ice, cortisone
shots, anti-inflammatories,
braces,
and taping
are so dangerous. They cover up the fact that the athlete has an injury. The
athlete goes out and plays even though his ligament is only 25 percent of the
strength of his original, uninjured, ligament.
Sports
medicine specialists are wondering why the athlete does not heal. Get a
clue. It is their treatments that are preventing the healing. The best
treatment for the athlete is to heal the injured ligament
back to 100 percent as quickly as possible. There is only one treatment that
can do this. That treatment is Prolotherapy.
For more on Prolotherapy.
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