Prevention of soft tissue injuries

If you are unsure what soft tissue actually is, you probably already know it but you are not aware of this fact. Basically, our soft tissues are our muscles, tendons and ligaments. Thus, these mostly get injured during sports. Hence, if you have ever experienced getting hit in any of these tissues in your body, or have exposed these to overuse, you have probably witnessed the symptoms of soft tissue injuries.

Symptoms and Signs of Soft Tissue Injury

Most commonly, when this type of tissue in our body gets hurt, we are likely to experience pain and swelling affecting the area where the damage has been done. Also, redness and loss of stability are to be expected. Either way, it is best to seek medical advice, knowing what to do next, regarding the treatment of these injuries. Your doctor will check your injury, assess its severity and recommend the best possible treatment.

Types of Soft Tissue Injuries

One of the most frequent injuries of this type is a sprain or strain. This refers to a ligament of yours being stretched excessively or even torn. A strain is a term being used for excessive stretching of tendons and muscles, while a sprain can be used for both of these including ligaments.

Another type of soft tissue injury is overuse injury. It takes place due to overstressing your soft tissue areas repeatedly, causing microscopic tears to appear in muscle, ligament and tendon fibers. In time, if not treated, this evolves into a greater tear and amplifies the damage of the injury, resulting in swelling and pain. Moreover, overuse can even lead to a stress fracture of a bone.

Finally, we have contusions, tendonitis and bursitis. The first one stands for bruising, usually due to a single blow to a soft tissue spot on your body. Tendonitis is inflammation of the tendons while bursitis is inflammation in the bursa, a small sac which has a purpose of relieving the friction in your joints.

However, since we know that prevention is the ultimate goal, read the following lines in order to avoid suffering from soft tissue injuries.

Prevention of Soft Tissue Injuries

Even though sometimes these injuries can be inevitable, especially in sports, you may take means of precaution and keep them at bay. Do warm up and cool down exercises before your every workout or physical activity, along with adequate stretching exercises. Finally, pay attention to your posture and your form during your exercising procedures. Finally, make sure you provide your body enough rest to recover and recuperate, keeping your soft tissue healthy.