An injury to the soft-tissue within the body includes muscles, tendons and ligaments. The most common soft-tissue injuries are contusions, sprains, tendonitis, stress injuries, and strains. Soft-tissue injuries often cause swelling, redness, and moderate pain. While there are some preventative measures that can be taken, soft-tissue injuries occur commonly in everyday life.
A soft-tissue injury causes swelling, heat, redness, bruising, and pain around the injured area. You can learn more about the specific symptoms associated with each type of soft-tissue injury in the descriptions below.
Contusions – Also known as a bruise, a contusion occurs when the body is hit with an object, damaging the muscle without breaking the skin and causing blood vessels to burst in the area. This creates that blue-purple appearance of a bruise as blood collects in one spot.
Sprains – A sprain is the stretching or even tearing of a ligament. A ligament is a type of strong connective tissue that supports a joint by connecting the bone to the joint. Sprains occur when joints like the knees and ankles turn a little too far past their normal range of motion. Depending on how much the ligament stretches, a sprain can be very painful.
Strains – A strain is the stretching or tearing of a muscle or tendon. Tendons are also strong bundles of connective tissue, but they connect muscles to bones. Like a sprain, a strain can involve a minor stretch or a complete tear. Symptoms of a strain can include muscle spasms, severe pain, weakness, and cramping.
Tendonitis – Tendonitis is the slow inflammation of the covering of a tendon. It’s caused by repetitive activity that puts stress on the same tendon over and over again. Symptoms include swelling and chronic pain in the affected area.
Stress injuries – Also known as a repetitive strain injury, stress injuries occur most frequently in the elbows, shoulders, hands, and wrists. Symptoms go beyond swelling, pain, and redness, and include stiffness, tingling, and muscle cramps.
There are two types of soft-tissue injuries, acute and chronic. Acute injuries include sprains, strains, and contusions. These types of injuries are caused by sudden accidents, such as a fall or hit to the body. Chronic injuries include tendonitis and stress injuries and are caused by overuse over a long period of time.
Risk factors for soft-tissue injuries include playing sports. Participating in physical activity makes one prone to both acute and chronic soft-tissue injuries
A doctor will perform a physical examination and ask you about what happened. Often, a physical examination will give a doctor enough information to make a diagnosis. A doctor may choose to have a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan done to confirm their suspicions. An MRI can take a detailed picture of soft tissues, like muscles, ligaments, and tendons. This allows a doctor to see exactly what is wrong.
Complications are uncommon with soft-tissue injuries, but when they do occur, they are typically a result of serious injuries. Complications include:
Soft-tissue injuries require a range of treatment. Acute soft-tissue injuries like strains, sprains, and bruises can be treated with rest, ice, compression, and elevation (RICE). Rest the injured area, put an ice pack on it for short periods of time throughout the day, wrap the area in a secure bandage, and elevate the area above your heart. A physician may advise wearing a splint or boot based on the severity of the injury, and physical therapy or even surgery may be needed in severe cases.
Chronic soft-tissue injuries are treated with rest of the injured area, physical therapy, splinting of the injured area to prevent further overuse, and anti-inflammatory medications or steroids.
Prevention strategies for soft-tissue injuries include warming up and cooling down before and after exercising, staying hydrated, resting, and practising a whole-body fitness regimen.