We created MEND to provide nutritional support to aid in the healing and repair of traumatized tissue from injury or surgery but can the same properties that make it the top tissue repair supplement also make it an agent for injury prevention? There is a growing body of scientific evidence to suggest that the answer is firmly yes. Let’s review the science.

Generally speaking, injuries fall into two broad categories: acute injuries and overuse injuries. An acute injury is a sudden injury that results from a traumatic event such as blunt force. Think of a bone fracture caused by a fall. Overuse injuries are more common in sports, however, they occur slowly over time and are the result of repetitive micro trauma to the soft and hard tissue. Common examples include tennis elbow or runner’s knee.

The five most common types of sports injuries (this varies across sports but these are the most common across sports) are as follows:

• Knee Injuries. From runner’s knee to tendonitis to more severe injuries such as MCL or ACL, knee injuries are the most common injury. They comprise 55% of all sports injuries and approximately one-fourth of all problems treated by orthopedic surgeons.

• Strains and Sprains. When a ligament tears or overstretches this is considered a sprain. These can range from minor to complete tears where the ligament is severed. A strain (also known as a pulled muscle), which can also be minor or severe, occurs when the fibers within a muscle or tendon stretch too far or tear.

• Shin Splints. A shin splint, or pain along the tibia caused by inflammation of the muscle tissue around it, can occur in the anterior or medial part of the lower leg – these injuries are very common with runners who run on hard surfaces.

• Fractures. A broken bone (fracture) can occur from an acute trauma or can occur from repeated stress over time (stress fracture). A stress fracture occurs most of the time in the legs or feet from sports that cause repetitive impact, such a running or jumping sport.

• Dislocations. Also known as a luxation, dislocations occur when forces causes a joint to move out of alignment. Quite often the dislocation causes the tissue surrounding the bone and joint to be damaged.

While many injuries, such as bone fractures and dislocations, are acute injuries and result from circumstances beyond our control, most injuries are overuse injuries and are very much preventable. Factors such as not being conditioned for the activity, not getting adequate amounts of rest for recovery, not warming up sufficiently all contribute to overuse injuries. And there’s also the very important and yet often ignored role of nutrition.

It’s true that proper nutrition can do little to prevent injuries caused by factors such as overtraining or inadequate rest but specific nutrition plan is a critical part of an injury-prevention strategy. Traumatized or injured tissue goes through 3 healing phases: the inflammatory stage, the repair stage and the remodeling stage. During these phases, the body goes into a higher metabolic state and requires additional nutrients to support tissue repair and recovery. Poor nutrition can compromise the quality of healing and/or delay healing and recovery.

Athletes often use traditional sports recovery products which supply needed carbohydrates and electrolytes, but fail to add ingredients that aid tissue repair and to help prevent inflammation. The essential amino acids and natural anti-inflammatories are often the missing pieces. Micro traumas are repaired by your body using the building blocks of amino acids and inflammation can be reduced through natural herbs such as turmeric. Much has also recently been written about the role of Vitamin D in lessening the recovery time of traumatized tissue.

MEND Repair & Recover contains a specific formulation of nutrients that are proven to help heal traumatized tissue and help reduce inflammation. There is sound evidence that taking MEND prophylactically will help provide the necessary nutritional support to reduce the risk of overuse injuries.