How does swelling occur?
by Kaye Rivera and Amy Marinov
What is Swelling?
Whether it’s a bee sting or a sprained ankle, everyone has had some swelling somewhere, and the ankle is the most common place to get swelling. Swelling is also known as edema. Edema is a part of the human body’s inflammatory progress. Swelling is another sign of an injury. When an injury or tissue damaged is done to apart of the body, you can get redness, heat and pain, and swelling will definitely come. Some chemicals are released to help the blood vessels flow when an injury has occurred.
When you get Swelling
Swelling is occurred when the fluid is surrounding the tissue in that part that is injured. Swelling can happen when the body is not circulating fluid well. The ankle is the most common part of the body to get swollen or sprained, and if a part of the body is weak (not well strengthen) then it will be clearly easy to get an injury. Acute injures are easy to get. First comes pain then comes swelling.
Causes of Swelling
- Allergic Reaction
- Cellulitis
- Contact dermatitis
- Eczema
- Hives
- Insect bite
- Insect sting
- Skin infection
- Edema
What happens when Swelling comes
A big injury can take two weeks to heel or one month to heel, and a small injury can two weeks to heel or just five days to heel. Having some tight mussels can affect you from keeping your body out of injuries. When you get swelling you can know that it is swollen because, for example, if you knee was swollen then one knee would look bigger than the other, and one knee would feel really hot and then that means that your knee is inflamed. Swelling comes in-between forty five minutes to two hours.
PRICE
When you do get swelling you need to go to the phisio, soon you see what’s wrong because swelling is a sign on an injury. The body always responds to the swelling, and if you have a big injury you can keep getting one if you don’t treat it right. There are some steps to do,
P- Protect from further damage.
R- Rest to avoid getting hurt.
I-Ice and coldness will help the pain.
C- Compression.
E-Elevation