Soft Tissue Injuries
Injuries sustained in an accident aren’t always immediately apparent. Sometimes you will walk away from an accident with no cuts, no broken bones, no immediate pain, and you think you were lucky. Then the pain starts a few days laterand gets worse over time.
Soft tissue injuries (injuries to muscles, tendons and ligaments) can be deceptive. You may not think your injury is serious because the pain is delayed, or you got an x-ray that didn’t show anything wrong. The doctor prescribes youa few pain pills, and you hope that you just need to take it easy for a few days and your injury will clear up on its own.
At six weeks post-soft tissue injury your healing tissue is reasonably mature but as you stretch, strength and stress your new scar tissue it often finds that it is not strong enough to cope with your increasing physical demand.
There are different types of soft tissue injuries:
• Strain: a stretched or torn muscle and/or tendon.
• Sprain: a torn or stretched ligament.
• Tendinitis: the inflammation of a tendon.
• Bursitis: the inflammation of a bursa.
• A contusion or bruise
Signs and symptoms of a soft tissue injury include:
• Swelling,
• Loss of power or ability to bear weight,
• Discoloration and bruising and/or sudden onset of pain.
Strains are caused by muscles over-stretching or contracting too quickly, resulting in a partial or complete tear of the muscle and/or tendon fibers.
The immediate treatment of any soft tissue injury consists of the RICER protocol:
• Rest,
• Ice,
• Compression,
• Elevation and,
• Referral.
RICE protocol should be followed for 48–72 hours. The aim is to reduce the bleeding and damage within the joint.
If you or a loved one have been injured in a car accident, call Personal Injury Attorney Chelsie M. Lamie at 727-501-3464 for a free consultation. You can also learn more about Attorney Lamie by visiting www.chelsielamie.com.