Time heals all wounds

Time does heal all wounds - well most of them...if they aren't fatal... or cause a limb to drop off... or get infected with gangrene...ok so it heals some wounds and doesn't do anything for others...

But what do you do when you dont have time to let the wounds heal? we have just over three weeks now before the cycle and we need to ramp up the training so that we can have a few days carb loading before hand with absolutely no exercise at all.

I'm sure you have read about my interest at studying foliage up close by now. Three days later I'm good to go despite the cuts still healing. How did I do it? (note this is not a miracle cure).

Well...there were three issues to address:
1. Cuts
2. Tissue Damage
3. Ligament Damage

There is nothing in the world that I am aware of that will cause a cut to heal any quicker than naturally so I let this go on its own.

Tissue Damage was a big problem, the muscles in my right thigh were hit badly by my bike and those branches did a fairly good job of opening up my thigh. Once the cuts had sealed I used a combination of contrast baths to stimulate blood flow and chemical heating (Deep Heat - a menthol and eucalyptus oitment - watch out for open cuts though) to maintain the inner temperature of the muscle to ensure that it was able to heal. The result is, very little discoloration of the skin where I would have expected a large black/purple bruise.

Ligament damage to my left ankle was also an issue, it got twisted up in the bike and bush. The ankle is still swollen but strong enough to allow me to run up the four flights of stairs this morning without pain. This time, by keeping the ligament cool I was able to reduce the swelling, and allow the ankle to move more freely. Keeping it mobile was the key to ensuring good blood flow and faster healing.

I'll find out tonight how the healing has gone as I'm going to do around 20 miles on the bike. Next week and the week after I'll be cycling to/from work each day to ensure that I have enough training done for the cycle on the 22nd!

So, the next time you decide to take a plunge into your nearest hedge, make sure that afterward you treat your wounds with the respect they need.