The Different Ways to Accelerate Wound Healing
You aren’t expected to heal immediately after visiting a wound clinic. Whether the wound is small or located on a body part you don’t put weight on, the bottom line is healing takes time. That said, there are ways to speed up the process some.
Be Patient
Wounds take time to heal and getting impatient about their continued presence on your person isn’t going to help one bit. You may have your reasons for wanting it gone straightaway but you have to give it time to heal.
Other than being patient about the healing period, you have to be equally patient with the healing process. There are two sides to this: your body’s own process of healing and the physical process involved in healing.
Your body has a healing mechanism. A simple wound from a knife cut won’t necessarily need stitches and it will heal over time. The same thing holds true for a wound that has to be treated at a wound clinic. So give your body some time – it is doing the best it can.
As you give your body time to heal, you must also do what’s advised of you to heal. If there are particular instructions like not putting weight on your foot, then it’s best to follow those orders. Instructions are given for a reason and it’s in your best interest to follow them.
Keep in mind that you want to be healed, not add more problems.
Follow the Doctor’s Orders
This is closely related to being patient. Listen to everything your doctor says at the wound clinic. If they recommend a number of days for bed rest, you have to follow those instructions. Doing so is not harming you; they are meant to help you.
You will certainly be uncomfortable with the entire situation for a period of time but things will only get worse if you don’t do what you’re told. A patient who suffered a stroke and has to go to rehab has a higher chance of getting better if they actually go to rehab and do the exercises given.
This is more or less the same with wound healing.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
You may know this as a treatment for decompression sickness, which is often suffered by scuba divers. This kind of therapy involves breathing oxygen in a pressurized room (in some cases, a tube). It can also be used to treat patients who suffer from non-healing wounds caused by diabetes.
How can this particular form of therapy help?
The oxygen breathed in is carried around the body via blood. The breathed-in oxygen will do the following: it will fight bacteria and encourage substances (growth factors and stem cells) to be released. The substances mentioned are important in healing.
What hyperbaric oxygen therapy does is increase the amount of oxygen the blood can carry. Doing so can bring back the level of blood gases to normal. It also helps tissues function normally. All of these taken together promotes healing and fights infection.
For a full spectrum of wound care, visit San Diego Wound Care Center today.
We specialize in diagnosis and treatment for any and all wound care issues for patients in San Diego County, Orange County, and Riverside County. For more information or to set an appointment, please contact us.
