Does healing injuries burn extra calories ?
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,771
I have a bruised rib and a sprained wrist from some bad snowboarding falls, so I can't really lift too much, especially a heavy weight program like SS.
I'm wondering during this time of inactivity, if I should reduce my calorie intake since I'm not doing much physical activity so that I don't gain weight/fat, and if so how much? Does repairing a hurt body part like ribs/wrist/bruises etc take up a significant amount of calories compared to repairing muscles ?
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 10,302
That's a damn good question... if recovering from injuries worked the same way as recovering from a workout though, you'd definitely want to eat a lot so you could get over it and get on ss, not eat a little to recover more slowly but keep off the weight.
I am kind of curious about the physiology behind this though if somebody knows.
Probably not, given that someone's activity level also goes down when injuries occur.
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 17,793
Here is my guess. And that's all it is.
I would guess that it does burn more calories, but that amount is very trivial. I think you should eat to help the healing process though. Try to gain some weight it probably wouldn't hurt you.
Iono just guessing.
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 911
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 5,125
You may be onto something. Aren't all those emo chicks who cut themselves always skinny?
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 15,066
Seems like healing injuries and recovering from workouts should be affected by similar factors. After all, the workout "breaks down the muscle" so to speak.
But the volume of tissue that has to be repaired is probably higher in workouts than in specific location injuries, although the injury is more severe in terms of tissue breakdown.
Therefore, common sense suggest you should eat slightly above maintenance, but less than when working out, get enough protein and sleep and reduce stress.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,771
Hmmm thanks for the replies.
One further question since there are probably lots of injury experts like kyleb.
Why the heck do torn muscles (which I understand bruised ribs to be) take so long to heal? Aren't we tearing them everyday when we workout, and they recover just fine pretty soon. I imagine it's a much bigger tear, but it just seems so disproportionate the amount of time it takes to heal.
Pretty big difference between myofibrillar hypertrophy and muscle belly tears. Additionally, the concept of microtrauma (the concept you alluded to) may not exactly be how muscles "grow."
