Fibrin rescues us whenever our bodies are injured. Fibrin, shaped like long threads, interlaces together to form a barrier over the site of injury. This barrier is critical for preventing wounds from deteriorating even more and allows the skin to become healthy again. Imagine you are cut, fibrin is what binds the wound back together to prevent further bleeding.
Once the wound is healed, our body will naturally clean up the fibrin from the site. This clean up process uses proteolytic enzymes to get rid of the excess fibrin on the soft tissue. However, our bodies aren’t working in perfect conditions and such clean up is minimal. These tissues stiffen and form masses that interfere with our normal range of motion and function. This is when we begin to feel pain, inflammation or re-injure ourselves from the accumulation of fibrin tissues, also known as scar tissue.
Luckily we can support the clean up process by increasing our intake of proteolytic enzymes. These enzymes break down fibrin masses, increase blood circulation, reduce inflammation and strengthen the immune system. Unfortunately, your regular diet alone won’t overcome the drop in natural enzyme production as you age and even the best naturally occurring proteolytic enzyme food sources are not a significant part of our normal diet. Our bodies naturally produce these enzymes yet when we eat predominantly processed foods and lack a diet rich in raw fruits and vegetables, or simply not chew food well, our bodies rarely have the ability to produce enough enzymes. Therefore, most people will benefit by supplementing their diet with these enzymes.
My best recipe to conquer scar tissue is to take enzymes and use the foam roller (see blog post here). When you use these supplements in conjunction with the foam roller you will break up fibrin built up around overused muscles and increase tissue turnover. We stock these enzymes and foam rollers here at the office, so come by and pick them up.
By Dr. Dana Laridaen, D.C.
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