Have you recently sustained a sports or work injury? Perhaps you’ve been told that you’ve injured your ‘muscle tissue’ and are wondering exactly what this means?
It’s obviously best to follow the guidelines and advice of your doctor, but it can also be useful to gain some knowledge of your injury yourself, to help in your recovery.
Today we’ll provide you with some helpful information about muscle tissue injury to give you a better understanding of how the muscle healing process occurs. We’ll also talk about what treatments are available to get you back in shape in the quickest time possible.
What is a Muscle Tissue Injury?
A muscle tissue injury is a ‘soft’ injury, meaning it’s related to the soft tissue of your body, rather than hard bone.
Soft tissue injuries can include injury to:
- Muscle
- Ligament – connecting bone to bone
- Tendon – connecting muscle to bone)
- Other soft tissue – such as fat, joint capsules, skin and other connective tissue
Treating Muscle Tissue Injury
A professional physiotherapist will be your best bet in treating your muscle tissue injury.
Physiotherapists identify abnormalities and provide hands-on treatment to relieve pain and help repair your injury. Your physiotherapist will prescribe and progress injury-specific exercises that are specific to your needs. This will help you to resume normal activities and regain your full range of movement.
Your physio will also focus on strengthening the muscles surrounding your injury, to provide support during the early days of your recovery and prevent injury from occurring again.
What You Can Do
Prevention
No matter what you do, prevention is always better than a cure. You may not be able to prevent your muscle tissue injury, but there are steps you can take to reduce their likelihood.
These steps include:
· Warming up and cooling down
· Training in preparation for competitive level activity
· Maintaining your overall fitness
· Drinking water
· Wearing the right footwear and other gear
· Only using safe surfaces for exercise
First Line Response
The long-term treatment for muscle tissue injuries should be managed by professionals. If you want to know what to do in the immediate aftermath of any soft-tissue issue, consider following the RICER and NO HARM principles:
· Rest
· Ice
· Compression
· Elevation
· Referral
No:
· Heat
· Alcohol
· Running or activity
· Massage
Always Seek Professional Help
Seeking professional medical attention for your injury is the best way to ensure you return to work, sport and everyday life as soon as possible.
If you’re an athlete suffering from muscle tissue injury, be sure to look for a physiotherapist who specialises in sports related injury. They will be able to create a customised rehabilitation program to suit your needs.
High Quality Physiotherapy Services in Auckland
If you’d like more information about treating and healing a muscle tissue injury, talk to Auckland’s sports physiotherapy experts at PhysioReform.
To book an appointment with a qualified physio in east Tamaki, or find out more about our services, call the PhysioReform team on +64 9 273 6089 or simply register online.