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Healing
How Much Is Biological and How Much Is Metaphysical
The research for my recent podcast, The Science and Mystery of Healing, has given me quite a bit to think about.
The biology is pretty straightforward.
Wound healing is a textbook four-phase process. Within seconds of injury, our blood vessels constrict. Platelets aggregate, forming a temporary plug. The clotting cascade activates, creating a fibrin mesh. Within the next hour, neutrophils arrive to clear bacteria; then, macrophages arrive to remove debris and coordinate signals; then redness, heat, and swelling ensue. In the days after injury, scar tissue forms, new blood vessels grow into the wound, epithelial cells migrate across the wound surface, and granulation tissue fills the gap.
Then, pain.
Pain onset and severity aren’t as straightforward as research would like to think — and this is where the mystery lies. Why do some people experience chronic pain after the physiological injury has healed? Is it more subjective, less universal? Is it based on body type, lifestyle, chemical make-up, personality, race, or neurodiversity? How does science compartmentalize these differences? Is it even possible?
Immediate pain — occurring in milliseconds to seconds — follows this path: (Simply put). When tissue damage occurs…
