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Soft Tissue injuries

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soft tissue injuries can include muscles, tendons or ligaments. Most soft tissue injuries are generally a result of unexpected or uncontrolled movements like stepping awkwardly off a step or rolling your ankle on a curb which cause can strains and sprains to underlaying structures. However, in some cases, soft tissue injuries can be a result of overuse or chronically fatigued structures. here are some examples:

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Exercise related

Exercise fatigued injuries happen due to the body not having sufficient time to fully heal between session, lets say you are a runner, and you complete a long run. Two days later you complete another long run, but this time your muscles are still fatigued recovering from the previous run. Due to this fatigue, your muscles and tendons are more at risk of musculoskeletal strain primarily due to the required muscular demand and their slightly weakened state. In this case common injuries include the key muscles required for running. (calf muscle or Achilles tendons.)

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Normal daily activities

Today, everything is 100mph, from responsibilities at home, children, work demands, and financial pressures, can place a great demand on the body both physically and mentally. however, lets take an example from a desk related job and see how normal activities can cause injuries, stiffness and soreness.

 

On an average day at the office some can spend anything from 6 - 10 hours of being stuck in one place. what is important about this, is that even when we are sat down we are using postural muscles to maintain our seated posture. Overtime, these postural muscles get fatigued, which in turn, places a greater demand on alternate muscles to pick up the slack, Now lets remember that our muscles are joined by tendons, which then attach to bones which form the joints. As time goes on, these muscles become sore and tight resulting in a increased pull on the tendon, which anchors at the bones and restricts the joint from functioning as well as it should.

 

Now, take this example and multiply it by days, weeks, months and years, our postural muscles continually fatigue, more demand is placed on supporting muscles which then effects the normal functioning of joints and eventually we start having symptoms of pain and stiffness.

 

In this case we mostly see soft tissue injuries resulting in low back, neck, wrist and elbow pain.

   

Soft Tissue injury Types:

 

​Soft tissue injuries generally fall into categories; Acute injuries and chronic injuries due to trauma or repetitive movements injuries (Repetitive strain Injuries / Overuse.)

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Acute Injuries:

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Acute injuries involve sudden trauma, which can effect muscles, tendons and ligaments. these include sprains, strains and contusions which can be caused by falls, twists or blunt trauma.

 

Chronic Injuries:

 

Overuse injuries happen gradually over time and can be caused by repetitive activities that don't allow the body enough time to heal between occurrences. some examples include; 

 

• Athletes who repetitively carry out the same movement time and time again, 

• manual jobs - such as painter and decorators who performs repetitive movements whilst painting

• Office workers - who sit long hours looking at screens and sitting at a desk with poor postures

 

These are just a few examples which can all interrupt the body natural healing process and overtime which interrupts the body healing ability resulting in the body to overcompensation of soft tissues and pain.

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Trigger points

 

Trigger point therapy is a technique used to relieve pain and tension in muscles that have developed painful localized areas due to poor posture, chronic pain or mental and emotional stress. Overtime, these areas of spasm can refer pain to other parts of the body and mimic the pain of other health conditions. during a chiropractic consultation, your chiropractor will locate these hypersensitive muscles and use pressure to gradually relax the area, reduce pain, and help restore normal strength and flexibility. at Optimize Chiropractic we will also provide you with exercises to stretch, strengthen, or coordinate the muscles, and give advice on ergonomics and lifestyle, to help with other problems in the nervous system.

 

Muscle Stretching Techniques

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At Optimize Chiropractic, we are trained in various muscle stretching and release techniques to assist your recovery. If we find persistent areas of muscle spasm, we may teach you how to stretch the muscle yourself and provide advise on how to avoid mistakes which may further aggravate the injury. We may also coach you in various strengthening and functional exercises or recommend massage therapy or visit to another suitable practitioner.

 

 

​​​Overall, soft tissues can sometimes be the cause of pain. However, it can also be caused from underlaying problems, which is a reason why sometimes treating symptoms often results in the reoccurrence of symptoms.