Bone / Joint
The body has an amazing capacity to heal itself, even in the face of severe injuries, yet at the same time, sometimes seemingly trivial injuries can become the focus of debilitating chronic pain problems. The same mechanism of healing is used in both of these scenarios, inflammation. Without inflammation, infections would go unchecked and wounds would never heal. However, inflammation may be potentially harmful.
Three stages of ligament and tendon healing: inflammatory, proliferation, and remodeling. During the initial inflammatory phase, the immune system increases circulation to the injured area, which produces the classic redness and warmth, which typifies soft tissue injury. The healthier the immune system, the quicker the ability to heal. The remodeling phase of healing occurs for up to one to one and a half years after the original injury, when the body attempts to restructure the injury in an attempt to restore the body to a pre-injury state.