I tweaked my shoulder about two years ago.
Nothing dramatic — just a weird angle on a heavy overhead press. Felt a small pop, figured it would sort itself out in a week or two.
Six months later it still hurt.
I iced it. I rested it. I did the band exercises my PT gave me. And it would feel better for a few days, then flare right back up the second I loaded it again.
Turns out I was fighting the wrong battle. And if you’ve got a nagging injury that won’t quit, you might be too.
Here’s what most people get wrong about recovery:
Inflammation isn’t the enemy — chronic inflammation is.
When you get injured, your body launches an inflammatory response on purpose. It’s how you shuttle immune cells to damaged tissue. It’s how you clean up debris and start rebuilding. That initial swelling and heat? That’s your body doing exactly what it’s supposed to do.
The problem starts when that process never resolves.
Research published in Nature Reviews Immunology shows that when the inflammatory response fails to transition from the “pro-inflammatory” phase to the “resolution” phase, tissue gets stuck in a loop. The body keeps sending damage signals even though the acute injury is over. Fibroblasts lay down scar tissue instead of functional tissue. Blood flow to the area decreases. And the injury just… lingers.
This is what’s happening with most “chronic” injuries. The initial damage healed weeks ago. But the inflammatory signaling never shut off.
So what actually resolves it?
Three things need to happen:
Resolve the chronic inflammation — not suppress it, resolve it. There’s a difference. Suppression (NSAIDs, ice) can actually delay healing by blocking the signals your body needs.
Promote angiogenesis — the formation of new blood vessels to bring nutrients and growth factors back into the damaged area.
Stimulate tissue remodeling — tell the fibroblasts to lay down organized collagen instead of messy scar tissue.
This week I’m going to break down each of these and show you which tools — peptides, nutrition strategies, and recovery protocols — actually move the needle for each one.
Tomorrow we start with the compound that has more recovery research behind it than almost anything else: BPC-157.