Skeletal muscles are formed by the contraction-capable structures called muscle fibers united in bundles and surrounded by a sheath called fascia. The structure called muscle fiber is actually a muscle cell. With structural muscle injuries, these fibers break, meaning the muscle cell is damaged. The human body has the ability to regenerate damaged muscle cells. This happens thanks to some special stem cells within the muscle that are capable of developing real muscle cells and turn into original muscle cells as a result of a series of events. The healing of damaged muscle is examined in three stages.
1.Degradation, that is, the destruction of damaged cells, is the first stage. In this first stage, which is considered to last approximately 5 days, there is severe edema and bleeding in the damage area.
2. The regeneration or repair phase is the second stage and starts in the first week, reaches its highest level in the second week and is completed in approximately 3-4 weeks. . At this stage, stem cells turn into real muscle cells. There are many substances called growth factors that control this process in the injury area. During the healing process, due to the effects of these substances at different levels, in addition to healing with real muscle cells, scar tissue called fibrosis may also occur, sometimes in small amounts and sometimes in large amounts. Fibrosis formation is actually an undesirable situation. Because the fibrous tissue formed is not capable of contraction. This condition causes loss of strength and flexibility of the muscle.
It causes pain during sports activities in the long term. The most emphasized issue in treatment practices is to ensure that healing occurs as quickly as possible and with as little fibrotic tissue as possible.
3. Remodeling, that is, the maturation process of the healing muscle, is the last phase and represents the muscle reaching its functional capacity and continues for a few more months. Treatment practices at this stage are based on ensuring faster recovery of functional capacity. Thus, the aim is to return to sports as quickly as possible and with as little fibrous tissue development as possible.
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