A wound can really be annoying and debilitating, it can easily get in the way of your everyday life and a lot of the time you may just want it to go away quickly.
We rarely plan to get injured, so injuries and wounds can also get in the way of our plans, maybe you want a wound to heal before a date or a big game.
In any of these cases, we are here to help. We have listed some ways you might be able to encourage your wound to heal quickly but also safely.
Keep reading to learn more about wounds, what they are, and how we can encourage them to get better, quicker.
What Is A Wound?
A wound is an injury that breaks the skin or other body tissues. This can include cuts, scrapes, scars, scratches, and punctured skin.
Wounds are very common and occur for a myriad of reasons.
Self-Care Tips For Quick Healing
Here are some tips to take at home which are safe, won;t make your wound worse, but could make it heal faster.
Pick Your Drugs Carefully
Certain drugs aren’t made to treat pain and can theoretically affect how quickly our wounds heal. Anti-inflammatory drugs such as Ibuprofen or Aspirin can affect the action of immune system cells.
By being anti-inflammatory they can actually reduce the speed at which wounds heal. If your wound hurts a painkiller like paracetamol is perhaps best.
Stay Dressed
Sometimes letting your wound feel the open air can seem like they might make it heal faster, but your wounds heal much quicker when they are dressed.
Partly this is due to warmth, warmth increases blood flow and thus allows wounds to heal quicker. Open air makes your wound colder than it would be when dressed and it heals slower.
Changing your dressing quickly can also help with this for the same reason.
Exercise
This can sound counterintuitive, depending on the type of wound you have suffered. But in fact, exercise increases the blood flow around your body, and your wound needs blood flow in order to heal properly.
Doing star jumps on the spot isn’t suddenly going to heal your wound, but your doctor can suggest exercises that can be beneficial to wound healing speed.
Embracing your general workout routine, should it not interfere with a wound, would be recommended.
Eat And Drink Properly
Proper water hydration is really important for wounds and healing, bare in mind you are more that 50% water so water is always going to help.
In other ways, eating and drinking well, eating healthy food and making sure you are getting your vitamins in, can ensure that your body has all it needs to fuel your wounds healing process.
In another way, eating bad will simply make your wound heal more slowly.
Vitamin C It Up!
If you can eat and drink items that contain high levels of vitamin C you can make your wound heal faster. Vitamin C is actually super necessary to create collagen.
Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body and it is what makes up the connective tissue of our body, so by encouraging the growth of collagen skin can heal up much quicker.
Leave It Alone!
Playing and fiddling with a wound will simply make it worse, which is another reason why dressings are great to use as they inhibit contact with the healing skin.
You can make it worse by playing with it and fiddling, just leave it be and let your body do its work.
Mange Existing Conditions
If you suffer from a chronic condition like diabetes or anemia, make sure you are doing all the steps to keep these conditions in check.
These conditions when not treated how they should be can inhibit wound healing.
When Should I See A Doctor?
If you are trying to get your wound to heal quicker than it should, this is fine. Yet, if you are trying these steps because your wound has not healed long after it should have, there could be cause to see a doctor.
See a doctor if:
- If you are continuing to bleed from a wound after a prolonged period of time
- Your wound has become more painful overtime
- Pus or discharge continues to leak from the wound
- If you feel like you have a fever
Final Thoughts
As you can see, the best way to get your wound to heal is to remain healthy and ensure your body gets everything it needs.
Focussing on a healthy diet that is rich in vitamin C, as well as considering exercising, are both great tips for making a wound heal faster than it should.
If a wound hasn’t healed after the expected time period, it is best to see a doctor.
