The answer to that question is “both!” When inflammation occurs as the result of an injury, it’s not agreeable, but it’s definitely beneficial, so we can classify it as a friend. This type of inflammation is almost always acute inflammation, which means that it only lasts as long as needed for healing purposes.But sometimes inflammation takes place in response to a number of different stimuli, some of which emerge as the result of an internal malfunction of some kind, and some of which arise for no discerni ...