How hard and how often to use the Wave Tool?
photo credit @hailey.m.moore
It seems like a simple question; "How hard and how often should I use my Wave Tool?" As a Physical Therapist I know that guidelines are very important but it’s also true that each individual and every injury are very different and unique and, therefore, it is actually quite hard to give a one size fits all program.
For simplicity, we can split tissue healing into 3 phases; acute, repair and proliferation , and tissue remodeling. In addition we have a Chronic phase, which can result from poor management of an injury and is not a desired outcome.
For Acute conditions, during the few few days to a week after an injury, you should use ONLY very light pressures for a few minutes several times a week. This will help to decrease pain and neural sensitivity and to help decrease inflammation.
The Proliferative Phase of healing can last for several days to several weeks and at times into months (note each injury is different and consult a professional for advice!). During this phase, the body is laying down lots of new tissue, which contains weaker collagen fibers. This is a time to use light to moderate pressures in the surrounding tissues. A few times a week will aid in increasing blood flow and decrease the likelihood of adhesions from forming in the superficial fascia and surrounding tissues. Be careful not to go too hard with scraping tools. You want to let the tissue heal without causing excessive inflammation.
BOTH the ACUTE and PROLIFERATIVE PHASES are NOT the time to overdo it…
So let’s now get into when you want to use these tools to help stimulate tissue remodeling and release unhealthy adhesions.
The Remodeling Phase is when the tissue has sufficiently healed, and now your body is doing something amazing, which is remodeling the initial poorer quality type 3 collagen into stronger type 1 collagen.
This is a great time to use muscle scrapers like the Wave tool, Arete tool, and Handlebar to stimulate this tissue to remodel. This is accomplished by using the tools to put a traction force along the fascia and other connective tissues, as well as causing micro-tearing of the weaker and improperly aligned collagen fibers. This can stimulate a desired healing response to lay down new and stronger tissue. Scraping used in conjunction with proper strengthening of the tissues through progressive loading will helps stimulate the new tissue to lay down stronger and with better alignment. This is a very simplified explanation of the process, there is a lot more going on here!
Lastly; chronic conditions occur when an initial injury is improperly managed through continued damage, “yo-yo” damage where the tissue never gets to fully heal, and sometimes from prolonged immobilization which leads to weakened and susceptible tissues. Chronic conditions are sometimes labeled as a tendinopathy or tendinosis and are marked by a lack of healing, lack of inflammatory process, and necrotic tissue. We find muscle scraping an excellent choice when dealing with these difficult conditions. The goal here is to release the unhealthy damaged tissues so that the body can replace this tissue with new healthier and stronger collagen fibers. This is when you want to use scraping tools with FIRM PRESSURES, for a 5-10 minute session 2-3 times a week. The goal is to cause a small amount of inflammation and “micro-fraying” of the fibers to stimulate the body to begin a new and better managed healing process. Remember, you need recovery periods in between treatments, just as you need recovery between intense climbing sessions.
We always recommend a professional evaluation after an injury to ensure the best outcome possible. It can be difficult to determine what phase of healing you are in and how hard and often to use these tools. Lastly, use common sense and assess after a treatment in order to adjust as necessary.
See our videos for more information!