Muscle injury/ tear

INJURY TITLE

Muscle injury/ tear

 

INJURY OVERVIEW

Despite being very resilient, sometimes muscles can tear.  This is because the strain placed on them is more than they can cope with.  Common muscle injured are hamstrings, calves, and quads.  All in the legs and so have to deal with huge amounts of stress.  Also, they all operate over more than one joint and so this exposes them to even higher forces.

 

INJURY IN-DEPTH INFORMATION

Muscle Injuries are graded from 1-3.  Grade 1 is minor, involving only a small amount of fibres.  Grade 2 obviously involves more of the muscle and will have associated pain and swelling.  A grade 3 injury is a complete tear of the muscle.

 

COMMON SIGNS & SYMPTOMS

Pain Swelling Bruising Loss of power Loss of function

 

HOW IS IT ASSESSED

Clinical assessment to establish the severity of the injury Ultra Sound scan or MRI may be needed depending on the muscle(s) involved.

 

GENERAL TREATMENT

Minimise bleeding and swelling Manual therapy Stretching and progressive strengthening as pain allows

 

Exercise Videos: i.e. Rotator cuff strengthening Pec stretch etc

 

WHICH HEALTH PROFESSIONAL TO CONSULT

PHYSIO     X

MEDIC     X

PODIATRY     

Put an ‘X’ next to each health professional that most commonly deals with this injury.

i.e. tennis elbow would be Physio and Medic as injections are common, whereas for muscular LBP it would be Physio and not Medic as they would just refer them to a Physio.