There are many things that will impact how successful the body is able to repair itself. The biggest factor will no doubt be the severity of the injury. This should be pretty obvious as the more damage there is, the longer it will take to heal. Counter to that: the less damage there is, the quicker it should heal.

What does ‘severity’ really mean? Well, if you think of a burn or a cut this could refer to how intense or deep it is; or it could mean how large (on the surface) the injury is. In regards to a strain or sprain these are instead graded from zero to three. A higher grade will indicate more damage to the tissues in question.

What other factors can impact the bodies ability to heal itself?

Poor Nutrition:

No one can dispute that your body requires different types of nutrients to fuel the various functions and processes that it has. In regards to tissue repair: certain vitamins, minerals, proteins, and even calories are necessary for your body to promote healing at a cellular level. Lacking one or all of the above will throw-off specific processes that are fundamental to healing.

Existing Condition:

Certain conditions or diseases and their associated problems will impact the bodies ability to heal. Think vascular diseases, or conditions of your organs (i.e. cancer, diabetes, or general infection). All of these can impact many different processes of your body, but not least of which will be the ability to heal itself.

Age:

The extremes of young and old will impact your bodies ability to heal. While yes technically younger people can heal faster (due to their ability to repair collagenous tissues quicker via increased fibroblast production – among other things) you also have to consider that as their bodies continue to develop and grow, scar tissue will not do the same. This can form contractures or undue stress to be added in specific areas.

As your bodies increases in age there will be changes to the collagen and ellastin fibres (as well as general wear and tear to the body as a whole). However, older individuals will have a particularly slowed fibroblast production. Overall these changes mean that your skin loses the ability to hold water and will actually become thinner. This can be detrimental to allowing a wound to contract / close.

Inadequate Blood Flow / Supply:

Proper blood flow is paramount to the local nutritional needs of your tissues. This happens both in delivery of those nutrients but also the removal of cellular debris and bacteria. Inadequate blood supply may be a result of some vascular condition or disease, swelling / edema, or mechanical compression (think when your arm ‘falls asleep’ when you lay on it for a certain length of time).

Infection:

An infection will result in an increased inflammatory response from your body (learn more about inflammation here), as well as the literal death of tissues (at a cellular level: see tissue necrosis). In truth there are an infinite number of ways that infections impact the body – whether as a primary or secondary (associated symptoms) effect.

Presence of Foreign Material:

Any foreign material whether observable or otherwise (think bacteria that you cannot see versus something more obvious like a wooden splinter, metal shaving, or piece of glass) will make it more difficult for your body to both close a wound  on the tissue level, or start the more intense cellular level healing to take place underneath.

Smoking:

Smoking can interfere with your bodies ability to respond to stress and protect itself. It has been shown to interact negatively with other process of your body, as well as medications that you may be taking to help.

Drug Effects:

Medications, both over the counter or otherwise, can help AND hinder the bodies ability to heal. This can be in regards to suppressing the immune system, or inhibiting the inflammatory process.

It would be wise to be proactive with your bodies health by having a family doctor or physician; know or use the services of a dietitian or naturopath; as well as incorporate dynamic forms of health care like massage, acupuncture, physical therapy or chiropractic. When an injury is not healing within a reasonable time frame and you are not doing some or any of the above, then you should evaluate which would be most appropriate at helping to mitigate / enhance these healing factors.