Soft Tissue injury deals with tendons, ligaments, and muscle. Now, under this category, we will focus purely on tendons and ligaments. We have put muscle in a separate category because it covers a wide range of injuries that can get confusing. So, when we talk about tendons and ligaments we are looking at minor injuries or specific reactions to a stimulus that does not require major repair.
Tendons: They are a band of fibers that help connect the muscle to the bone. These fibers are able to withstand tension between the muscle and bone and their main function is keeping the connection intact.
One example of a tendon that most sportspersons are aware of is the Achilles tendon that connects the calf muscle to the heel bone. The heel bone is at the back of the foot. The other common tendon injuries occur around the shoulder, knees, ankles, and elbows.
Ligaments: Like the fibers of tendons connect bone to muscle, ligaments connect bone to bone. This is the basic difference between tendons and ligaments. Ligaments are found between various joints in the body. There are different kinds of ligaments that will be better understood once we start describing the kinds of ligament injuries.
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Ligament injuries deal with overstretching or sometimes tearing. There are different grades to this injury but the basis of it is the overexertion to the fibers between the bones. Most common ligament injuries are found in the ankle, knee, wrist, thumbs, and the back.
The common symptoms that you will see with Soft Tissue injuries are
Inflammation,
Sprains,
Swellings, and
Tear
when they are major ones.
There are different grades to an injury and that is one of the most common mistakes that sportspersons usually make. Understanding the grade of injury helps in the recovery process and the exact kind of medication is required. Many times, players end up taking the wrong course of recovery action because they don’t understand the intensity of the injury and that tends to prolong the desired timeline for recovery. So, hopefully, we will be able to educate the general community about the various grades of injury and how to treat them.
