Hey, I sprained my finger. I just want to understand why exactly keeping the finger immobile in a certain position makes it heal faster.
When changing my splint, I noticed that it is pretty stiff and supposed the body itself tries to keep it still while healing. Why does movement harm it? I can’t find a more accurate explanation to sprains either. Nothing beyond “it is swollen and hurt” yeah I know but ligaments are a very weird material, just want to understand sprains and ligaments a little bit more fundamentally I guess.
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A sprained ligament is damaged in some way, so it’s not going to be able to perform at its full effectiveness (range or speed of movement). Immobilizing it prevents you from making any motions that would cause further damage; if your sprained ankle is 50% worse than an unsprained ankle, then normal activities that you are use to doing with a healthy ankle may be beyond what your sprained ankle can support, causing further injury as the ligament is torn further.
A splint is the same as reinforcing a damaged beam or a wall. If you don’t reinforce it, the normal load/stress it feels may be enough to cause it to fail completely, since it’s already weakened.
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