Soft tissue injuries

Soft Tissue InjuriesSoft Tissue Injuries
Rohana Perera
Principal
School of Physiotherapy and Occupational
Therapy
National Hospital of Sri Lanka

Introduction
injuries to muscles, ligaments and tendons
Epidemiology
Very common as sports injuries
Common as injuries of RTA, domestic and work-
site accidents

Acute Injuries and Overuse Injuries
• Acute injuries occur suddenly
• Overuse injuries occur gradually

Terminology
Remember
Ankle sprains often injure ligaments
Back strains strain of muscles
Rotator- Cuff tears – tendon or muscle rupture
Deep bruises – haematoma formation

Injury classification
1st
Degree, Grade 1 or mild injury
2nd
Degree, Grade 2 or moderate injury
3rd
Degree, Grade 3 or severe injury

1st
Degree, Grade 1 or mild injury
• Microscopic structural damage
• Slight local tenderness

2nd
Degree, Grade 2 or moderate injury
• Partial rupture of tissue
• Visible swelling
• Notable tenderness
• Do not affect joint stability

3rd
Degree, Grade 3 or severe injury
• Complete rupture of tissue
• Significant swelling
• Significant instability

Structural
Damage
Symptoms
Signs

Tissue predisposition to injury

Ligament Injuries

Ligament Injuries – Diagnosis
Clinical Signs and Symptoms
• Brusing, swelling tenderness
• Pain on movement or loading, pain on
palpation
• Instability ± depending on the severity
• MRI scan for confirmation of injury type

Muscle and Tendon Injuries
• Muscles and tendons function together
• Injury may affect the muscle’s
origin
belly
muscle – tendon junction
tendon
tendon-periosteum junction
A common
injury in sports

Types of Muscle Injuries
1.Strains
2.Contusions

Types of Muscle InjuriesTypes of Muscle Injuries
1.Strains (1st
, 2nd
or 3rd
degree)
• caused by overstretching or eccentric overload
• often at the muscle – tendon junction
• occur as a result of the intrinsic force generated by
the muscle during the change between eccentric and
concentric traction; either in rapid acceleration or
deceleration actions or combinations of acceleration
and deceleration.

1.Strains (Clinical features)
1ST
degree strains
– Minimum strength loss and movement restriction
– Pain around the damaged area on active movement or passive
stretch
– In the case of an athlete it can be as distressing as a more severe
injury

1.Strains (Clinical features)
2nd
and 3rd
degree strains
– More significant functional loss
– Pain will be aggravated by any attempt to contract the muscle
– Defects may be palpable
– In 3rd
degree the muscle may bunch up resembling a tumour

1.Strains (Diagnosis)
– History suggesting acceleration / deceleration
– Sharp pain felt at the moment of injury
– Pain ↓with rest and ↑ or reproduced by attempted contraction
– Palpable defects on superficial muscles
– Local tenderness and swelling
– Loss of active movement
– Bruising after 24 hrs with spasm

Types of Muscle Injuries
2.Contusions
• Caused by direct blow on a muscle
• The muscle is pressed against the bone
• The muscle tears; heavy bleeding* deep within
muscle → Muscular haematoma
* bleeding directly proportional to muscle blood flow and inversely
proportional to the tension of the muscle at the time of injury

2.Contusions (Clinical features)
• Depend upon the size and site of haematoma produced
• When superficial
– Same as in strains
• Intramuscular heamatoma
– Bleeding is within the fascia covering the muscle
– The intramuscular pressure builds up and counteract further bleeding
– Resultant swelling lasts > 48hrs, accompanied tenderness, pain,
impaired mobility
– Swelling tends to increase due to osmosis.

2.2.ContusionsContusions (Clinical features)(Clinical features)
• Intermuscular heamatoma
– Damage includes facia and adjacent blood vessels
– Bleeding occurring between muscles
– No pressure building up as in intramuscular type
– Bruising and swelling appear distally to damage area within
24- 48 hrs.
– Muscle function returns
– Prognosis is better than intramuscular type

Tendon Injuries
• Acute injuries to tendons
– classified according to 1st
,2nd
and 3rd
degree
– are common in sports; superficial tendons are susceptible
to penetrating trauma
– caused by rapid acceleration / deceleration
– usually occur in connection with eccentric force
generation
– mid-tendon substance, muscle-tendon junction or avulsion
fractures
– Injured tendons may have had a predisposition to injury
due to overuse or disease

Tendon InjuriesTendon Injuries
• Tendons are most susceptible to overuse injury
– Tendinitis (tendon inflammation)
– Tenosynovitis (tendon sheath inflammation)
– Tenoperiostitis (tendon attachments’ inflammation)

Tendon Injuries (Diagnosis)
• History suggesting acute or overuse types
• Clinical examination to evaluate continuity
• US or MRI scans → precise diagnosis

Treatment Principles
Common to all acute injuries are internal bleeding and likely
acute inflammation. Therefore:
• prevent bleeding and pain as first aid by following PRICE
principle
P - Protection
R - Rest
I – Ice for cooling
C – Compression
E - Elevation

Treatment of Ligament Injuries
• PRICE immediate administration and contd. up to
2 – 3 days
• The doctor’s role:
– determine the stability
– exclude possible #; establish diagnosis (type of injury)
– if the joint is stable →
• early mobilisation
• supportive taping or orthosis
• rehabilitation
– if the joint is unstable →
• decide whether opn
necessary;
• protection and rehabilitation

Treatment of Ligament InjuriesTreatment of Ligament Injuries
• Rehabilitation (aim to:)
– identify any predisposing cause with a view to remove it
– prevent adhesion formation
– strengthen muscles related to the ligament
– re-educate proprioception
– restore full mobility of the ligament and corresponding
joint
– restore patient’s confidence
– restore full functional activity

• Rehabilitation
(time frame for ankle joint)
PRICE
Taping /splinting
Static cycle / Theraband activity for antagonist groups
Close-kinematic exs;
wobbloboard activity while seated
Gradual incease of loading
Wobble board
switch on to functional
activity
WEEKS
1 2 3 4 5 6 11 12

• Rehabilitation

Treatment of Acute Muscle Injury
• Immediately start PRICE; be strict on P, R and E up to
36 hrs
• No massaging the hurt muscle within 48 -72 hrs.
• Close observation for possible compartment
syndrome
– Decreasing swelling and rapid recovery of function may be expected
in intermuscular bleeding
– Persistent or increasing swelling with poor function suggest
intramuscular bleeding

Treatment of Acute Muscle InjuryTreatment of Acute Muscle Injury
• It is important that the accurate diagnosis is made
within 48 – 72 hrs.
premature exercising
– ↑bleeding in intramuscular haematoma situation
– ↑bleeding and scar tissue formation complicating the
injury and delaying recovery

Treatment of Acute Muscle InjuryTreatment of Acute Muscle Injury
After initial acute treatment:
1. Gr 1 and 2 strains, intermuscular haematomas and minor
intramuscular haematomas are treated with
• Elastic support bandage
• Local application of heat, contrast treatment with heat and cold
• Exercises are started after 2-5 days rest; progression as follows:
– Static without load → with load →free dynamic → PRE →stretches
→Proprioceptive training → functional / sport specific training
1. Gr 3 strains and severe intramuscular haematomas
demand surgical intervention or conservative treatment
over a prolonged period

Treatment of Acute Tendon Injury
• PRICE as in all other injuries administered initially
• A wide range of approaches to management based
on tendon damaged, age, the degree of disability and
handicap etc. Theoretically all severed tendons need
to be sutured to restore continuity and allowed to
heal.
• Early (within 2 weeks) mobilisation favours
functional recovery.

Soft tissue injuries

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