Common Sprains and Strains

a sprain or strain is typically not a serious problem and almost everyone is having one time or another — men, women, children, active and inactive people included. It just happens sometimes and the reasons are almost endless.

Of course that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt like heck for that your being a wimp. Drs. typically referred to this as soft tissue pain. It’s hurting because a muscle or a ligament has been injured. I.e. soft tissues instead of hard tissue like bone.

• Definition

The definition of a sprain/strain is an injury that results in a pulled, twisted, or torn muscle, tendon, or ligament. The tendon is the end of a muscle that attaches to a bone. A pulled muscle or tendon is called a strain. A ligament attaches bone to bone. When you pull a ligament it is called a sprain.

Sprain/strain injuries can be caused by any physical activity, violent jerking motion or accident. These can also result in ligament or muscle damage. The bottom line is he over did something and got hurt in the process. These injuries can feel like:

• Stiffness
• Tight aching muscles
• Muscle spasm
• Tenderness to the touch
• Range of motion limited by pain

Most doctors won’t order expensive tests early on when they believe you sustained a sprain strain. Unless there is a real reason for you to undergo tests right away (like you had a bad fall and you can’t move) there’s not a whole lot that x-rays or MRIs or CT scans will show in soft tissue injuries. And even if they do show up they are not a whole lot help in the initial treatment.

If you think you’ve suffered from a sprain/strain injury remember the old acronym RICE.

Rest: take it easy on the injured area and stop doing what hurt you. Normal activity is good to tolerance but don’t push it.

Ice: on the area that hurts will help reduce the swelling that is happening in the tissues and increase your comfort and healing time.

Compression: an ace bandage wrap can help support the injured area and keep the swelling down.

Elevation: if possible to elevate the injured area above the level of your heart doing so for some time each day will reduce swelling and pain.

If a soft tissue injury bothers you for more than a few days get in to see your doctor. There are a lot of tricks to helping these types of injuries heal quickly and correctly that would be too involved write about here.