Steemit Learning Challenge-S27W2; Physiofit; Swelling Reduction Challenge

Have you ever woken up one morning to see your face big and one side of your eyes bigger than the other? Some people say it's the rice you ate last night that caused it. Yes, it could be a reaction, but there's more. That big part is what we call swelling. Another clear instance is when a mosquito bites you. Even though you're dark, you'll see that spot swell, and if you scratch it, it becomes red.

Swelling

Swelling is a medical term for oedema, and it is the abnormal enlargement of a body part, which could be the hands, legs or face, caused by the accumulation of cells, fluids and substances in the tissues of the body. It is a sign that someone is wrong internally in the body but gives signals on the skin for the sun bearer to take immediate actions.

It's just like smoke coming out from a house that's on fire. It is visibly seen and usually red on the skin of a fair or white person. It usually happens when fluid leaks out of the capillaries and clusters in the tissues that are affected. From these, swelling is the body's way of sending a response to fix damage in the body.

There are various signs and symptoms of swelling. These signs tell your body that a part of it has swollen or is bigger than the other one. Let's say your hand or leg is bigger than the other one. This brings about one sign called Enlargement or puffiness in that area, making it visible. The affected area gets bigger than usual, and it's shining. Most times, it's usually red, and it's the most obvious sign.

• Another sign and symptom is when the skin is tight or stretched. This happens when you touch the swollen part and it becomes hard. I can remember when I did press-ups and lifted a barbell. My arms got swollen the next day, and they were just so tight and hard, restricting my arms from moving.

• It's usually painful when touched because of some internal workings. The swollen areas are usually hot or warm if there's inflammation. You'll definitely see discolouration and redness in that area.

• Numbness is another sign that you have extended swelling. Have you ever felt your feet or legs being numbed after pressing them on a hard surface for long? It can be so painful, and you won't feel your feet when walking. The feet become dead, so to speak.

There are various types of swelling, but I'll deliberate on 4 types. The first is localised swelling, and when explaining these types, I'll make use of illustrations.

• Localised swelling: This is a type of swelling that occurs in one specific area. Let's say you hurt your ankle and there's a swelling. It only happens in your ankle area where the damage was caused and not your whole body. The swelling is specified in this area.

This localised swelling means the gathering of tissue fluids in a particular part of the body, and once this buildup is done, the damaged area swells and alerts the body for immediate action. This type of swelling is usually caused by injury, boils, inflammation and allergy. It occurs when there's vasodilation, which is the expansion of blood vessels in that injured area. The walls of these blood vessels become permeable. Fluids and nutrients move out into nearby tissues in the body to fight the damage, and extra fluids cause the area to be swollen or puffy as a signal to the body that something is wrong. Redness is usually a sign of this type of swelling.

• General swelling: To understand this, the word is self explanation. Unlike the first one that localized, this isn't just about one part. It affects all parts of the body. A person might wake up one morning and notice swelling around his nose, arms and legs. This is when fluids have gathered throughout the whole body and it happens when something affects the liver, heart or kidney which balances fluid regulation on the body. These organs help remove extra fluid in the body. When they are affected, fluid builds up in the tissues, causing swelling. This is usually caused by heart failure, leading to swollen legs, lungs and abdomen. It's also caused by kidney problems and liver disease. A common sign may be weight gain and fatigue.

• Pitting swelling: This is swelling that creates a pit hole scar when you press a swollen area. It can leave that dent when pressed for days before disappearing. This happens when there's excess of fluid or extra fluids that can be easily displaced. This type of swelling usually means the body's fluid system is not balanced and prolonged standing, heart failure, kidney and liver disease can cause it. Even pregnancy too. The dent is temporal and this kind of swelling usually attack the legs, the ankles and feet. It is usually soft which aids the dent to be made.

• Non-pitting: This is the reverse of the Pitting as there's no dent left on the swollen area because the swollen area is firm, tight and hard. It occurs when the extra fluid in the body doesn't just contain water but essential nutrients and substances that are thick. These substances make the skim feels hard and tight. It usually result from thyroid conditions caused by myxedema, infectious, surgery etc. if not treated, it can be chronic and it does affect a specific part of the body

pathophysiology

To explain this very well, let's think of something on a broad span. Have your Street ever been flooded before? This could be because there are no gutters or the drainage system water is meant to pass through couldn't control the water probably due to blockage. The body experiences such instance when the body fluid overflow into places it shouldn't. The overflow or extra is what we call swelling because of the body's fluid balance organs inability to handle this.

Swelling is when fluids moves out from the blood vessels and gather in the body's tissues. When there's no balance between the amount of fluid inside the capillaries or blood vessels and those in the body's tissues, swelling is likely to occur.

So this pathophysiology is basically about what happens in the body. Let's go through how this swelling happens, starting from its roots. Fluids leave the blood vessels and enter the body's tissues. This happens when blood vessels experience high internal pressure due to excessive salt, heart failure, etc.

These blood vessels start pushing more fluid out to the body tissues, which collect these extra or excess fluids and gather them in one place. This is when the body's balance system fails.

Another cause of oedema is when the capillaries have walls that leak due to inflammation or injury. When this happens, the body makes the blood vessels permeable to allow immunity cells to pass through the damaged area for sustained healing.

When this is done, the blood vessels in turn push out extra fluids into the body's tissues in interstitial spaces, which causes redness in that area and localised swelling.

Okay, there's this friend of mine who got injured some days ago, and his ankle started swelling. He was like, why did the hit during football affect him so much? I then told him about it and that he has taken pain relief, but the swelling is still there. I decided to interview him. I took his name down since he's my patient and I'm a physiotherapist.

He stated that the injury he sustained made the place reddish, and it began swelling the next day, though not immediately. From his explanation, I could deduce that it was oedema inflammation, which, if not treated properly, can be chronic. It's a localised swelling in that region.

So I decided to use the RICE protocol with him to see if he'll feel any relief, as he couldn't stand for long due to the pain this swelling caused. My dad also had a different type of swelling where one of his legs and hands got swollen overnight, and it was so stiff that the hand and legs felt dead. Personally, I experienced non-pitting swelling.

It all started when I decided to do an engagement challenge on lifting barbells for a deadlift challenge. After extensive lifts, I didn't feel much pain until the next day. I woke up broken. My hand couldn't lift up. It felt so heavy and stiff. I had to use the other hand to move it. It was suspended in the air. It couldn't balance with my abdomen. That's when I knew there was a problem. I didn't know it was from the extensive deadlift. I thought it was some other problem. One of my arms swelled badly, and it was so fat and stiff that I began to fear. I was even taken to a bone doctor to massage my hands, but it proved abortive.

Someone then told me to use that hand and lift what I lifted the day before, and I should do so consistently, not minding the pain involved. I tried that, and my arm reduced automatically. I felt relieved.

Using the RICE* protocol, i told my patient to rest for a minute by leaning his back against the chair he sat on. After that, I took my ice bath, dipped a small towel inside the water, squeezed it and placed it on his ankle. I would have done that for 10 minutes for the camera, but the video would have been so long. So I decided to do it physically without recording the suspense.

After placing that on his ankle, i moved to the next method which is the compression socks. This compression socks or bandage helps reduce the swelling from expanding more and more. I used a bandage to tie around his ankle area. I then placed the leg on four pillows to elevate the leg, suspending it on something.

My patient felt relieved after the whole exercise. He never knew this could be just perfect. I shared my experience with him and encouraged him to continue the rice protocol till he is completely healed since he's not responding to drugs. He thanked me and promised to check back after 7 days to relate his feelings. That was how I was able to achieve something good from the whole process.

I invite benson6, @stef1 and @lirvic