Inflammation Isn't the Enemy. It's a Message That Overstayed Its Welcome.
Inflammation gets a bad reputation it hasn't entirely earned. In the first hours after an injury, inflammation is doing exactly what it's supposed to: clearing debris, recruiting help, and signaling nearby tissue that repair work has started. The problem isn't inflammation itself. It's what happens when that signal doesn't turn off on schedule.The molecules responsible for both starting and eventually quieting this response are cytokines, a broad category of small signaling proteins that cells release to communicate with their neighbors. Early in an injury, pro-inflammatory cytokines dominate the local environment, coordinating the initial cleanup response. As recovery progresses, a shift toward regulatory cytokines is meant to follow, gradually calming that same environment and allowing repair-focused activity to take over.In a healthy, well-regulated system, this handoff happens on its own. In tissue under chronic stress or repeated injury, it often doesn't...