Soft tissue injuries occur when the bodies muscles, tendons or ligaments experience any trauma. A lot of the time these injuries happen suddenly without warning - for example, a contact injury in MMA or a turning sharply movement in football - or they may occur due to overuse.
Many people will experience soft tissue injuries when they don't let their body recover properly from a workout or regular training that they continue with increased intensity. Your soft tissue can then easily experience trauma in the way of a strain.
Soft tissue injuries can occur anywhere in the body, the joints can be especially vulnerable - for example the ankles, knees and wrists. These joints can turn inward, especially when you land sharply or twist from a fall. This sudden action places tension on the opposite or next ligament, which can result in a sprain.
By contrast, a strain affects the muscles and tendons. These injuries may occur when the body’s fibrous tissue gets stretched too far or tears. Other injuries like tendonitis involve inflammation or irritation of muscles and tendons, stemming from stress or repetitive use that eventually manifests in pain.
A common factor connecting all soft tissue injuries, many can take an extended period of time to heal and may affect the body’s future performance if not repaired and recovered well.
How Soft Tissue Injuries Occur.
Soft tissue injuries can be put into two groups: Acute and overuse injuries. Like many sprains, strains and contusions, acute injuries involve sharp, sudden trauma. During physical activity or simply on a day to day walk you may fall on, twist or experience a sharp pain or impact that causes you to stop or slow down.
The other group consists of overuse injuries. Tendonitis, bursitis and some strains can occur when a particular activity or action is repeated over and over, but the muscles and tendon in this part of the body never have a chance to fully heal. Examples of this would be a gymnast who regular has to use their hands to hold on and land. If their is already a joint problem there, this can make it worse overtime.
All soft tissue injuries vary in terms of severity, regardless of source:
Grade 1 (Mild): These soft tissue injuries occur when the body’s fibers are damaged at the microscopic level due to over-stretching, resulting in tenderness or swelling.
Grade 2 (Moderate):These soft tissue injuries involve a degree of tearing, which may feel like an abnormal amount of looseness or instability in the joint and result in pain, swelling and tenderness. As a result, pressure or body weight cannot be applied to the injured joint and the individual needs to stay off it for at least a few weeks.
Grade 3 (Severe): These soft tissue injuries involve full or complete tears, which require a significantly longer recovery time. Individuals often find they can’t use the joint or muscle area at all following the injury. Severe soft tissue injuries are characterized by instability, rupturing and a high degree of pain and swelling.
How to Recover from a Soft Tissue Injury
Especially for Grade 1 soft tissue injuries, the main method of recovery used to be and still is by some professionals, is RICE: Rest, ice, compression and elevation. At the same time, you’re advised to stay off the joint or muscle as it recovers. Failing to do this can result in additional trauma, which then weakens the already-damaged tissue.
However, an evolved method I personally use and advise is the PEACE and LOVE method. The PEACE part at immediate care to subsequent management LOVE.
This underscores the importance of educating patients and addressing psychosocial factors to enhance recovery. In addition to this, it highlights the potentially harmful effects anti-inflammatories can have on soft tissue pain and function.
Immediately after a soft tissue injury, do no harm and let PEACE guide your approach.
How soft tissue injuries heal depends on multiple factors, including the individual’s age, overall health and occupation. Especially for Grade 2 and 3 injuries, recovery time may actually be longer than a broken bone.
As another factor – and one of the reasons Grade 3 injuries can end athletic careers – soft tissue injuries may permanently change the muscle, tendon or ligament. In turn, that body part may no longer function like it used to, which then affects how an athlete performs.
This process has to do with how connective tissue heals. Prior to the break, these areas consist of elastic and non-elastic collagen fibers in a precise arrangement. In healing, the fibers never grow back the same and are replaced with denser, less-organized scar tissue. For your body, the regrowth helps bones and joints stay together, but the structure’s strength is greatly diminished.
As a result, this area is now significantly more prone to future tears and injuries, especially if the athlete jumps back into training at the same intensity and may experience a decreased range of motion. In extreme cases, individuals may develop chronic soft tissue injuries in this area due to the stress placed on the tissue. These debilitating injuries can last a lifetime, limiting what an individual can do.
When a soft tissue injury occurs, many individuals immediately feel pain and experience swelling and stiffness, although these symptoms may be delayed in some cases. Another delayed factor, bruising may follow 24 to 48 hours after the injury. The individual may also find they cannot put their weight on the area – an issue common with injuries involving the hip, knee and ankle.
After experiencing this combination of symptoms, individuals should go through the PEACE and LOVE steps but medical attention is often needed, especially if:
You rest and elevate but still can’t place your weight on the structure.
The joint is extremely lax or develops an unusual shape.
You heard or felt a pop during the injury.
You feel pain in the surrounding bones and ligaments or experience a tingling sensation.
One of the main things to consider when a soft tissue injury occurs is your training. Do you stop and rest, carry on and see how you get on, or manage properly as many sports therapists suggest.
You don't have to completely alter your training or exercise plan but you will need to re-assess to see how you can avoid further damage but still train and exercise.
For me with a recent knee injury, the healing time was shorter than I thought it would be but it was because I took this approach and managed how I repaired and recovered well. Unfortunately I now have another ankle injury due to impact in a wrestling session. I now know I have to re-assess again and make the right steps for this injury to repair and heal so I can regain strength and fitness.
Advice and medical attention should always be priority. An MRI for a soft tissue injury would be beneficial to see where the injury has occurred and therefor how to treat it. A trip to the physio or sports therapist would be then your next course of action.
In my opinion, there are many ways to promote recovery. The main ones for me would be:
Nutrition
Exercise management
Sleep
Once you do these three well, you can then start looking at others such as:
Sports massage
Personal Training
Float tanks
Infrared Therapy
If you experience an injury and you think it could be a soft tissue injury, seek a health professional to advise your next steps.
Thanks for reading guys!
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