When Wounds Won’t Heal: MRMC highlights Wound Care Awareness Week
6/8/2021
By Daniel Gilbert, D.O., FACOS
The Wound Center at Moberly Regional Medical Center is helping raise awareness of the risks of chronic wounds during the eighth annual Wound Care Awareness Week, June 7 to June 11.
From mending those scraped knees of childhood to adulthood illnesses and injuries, our bodies have complex and remarkable healing capabilities. Sometimes, however, we may suffer an injury that is difficult for the body to handle, and those natural healing processes need a helping hand.
Difficulty in healing may happen because of the severity of a wound, or a health condition that compromises the body’s ability to heal.
Wounds that won’t heal – also known as chronic or slow-healing wounds – are a significant health concern. When you’ve been injured, ill or undergone surgery, an important part of your successful recovery is not only taking care of the original illness or injury, but also the proper healing of any wounds associated with your condition.
Nearly seven million people across the United States suffer from chronic or slow-healing wounds. Wounds fall into two categories: acute and chronic. Acute wounds are related to an accident, injury or surgery. Chronic wounds can also be related to an injury, surgery – but are most often, a health condition that impedes normal healing. If a wound does not heal within a month, and requires medical intervention, it is considered a chronic or slow-healing wound.
Certain chronic conditions can complicate the healing process and lead to serious health problems, such as infection or nerve damage. These conditions include diabetes, peripheral neuropathy (nerve disorders affecting the hands or feet), and circulatory system disorders, as well as a variety of other health issues, including:
- Autoimmune disorders (rheumatoid arthritis, or lupus)
- Inadequate or poor nutrition
- Cancer treatment/effects of radiation or chemotherapy
- Vascular (vein) disease
- Congestive heart failure
- Peripheral arterial disease
- Traumatic injury
These diseases affect blood flow and nerve sensation, which slow healing. Certain medications can also suppress the normal healing response.
The good news is that a variety of medical treatments are available to help wounds that won’t heal. Many hospitals offer specialized care for chronic wounds and their underlying causes, such as inflammation, infection, or chronic disease.
Moberly Regional Medical Center offers specialized, outpatient care for non-healing wounds, including hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which allows the body to carry 15 to 20 times the normal amount of oxygen to the body’s tissues improving blood flow that stimulates healing. Other treatments include specialty wound dressings, compression therapy, pressure off-loading devices, debridement, negative pressure wound therapy, and patient and family education. The team of doctors, nurse practitioners and nurses provide treatments to promote healing of chronic wounds and help patients recover as quickly as possible.
Learn more at our wound care services page or by calling (660) 263-3250.
About the Author: Daniel Gilbert, D.O., FACOS, at Moberly Rural Medical Center, is board certified by the American Osteopathic Board of Surgery. He joined the Moberly Regional Medical Center Staff in 2011 and serves as medical director of the MRMC Wound Center.
Remember that this information is not intended to replace the advice of your doctor, but rather to increase awareness and help equip patients with information and facilitate conversations with your physician that will benefit your health.
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