Abstract
Injury to soft tissue encompasses a vast array of entities due to an assortment of mechanisms. The etiology of an injury can include physical, biological, thermal, metabolic, and chemical means. A sports medicine précis of soft tissue injuries includes sprains, strains, contusions, hematomas, and tendinitides. There are commonalities across this wide assortment of maladies however. The application of mechanical force to human tissue can cause one of two changes: a change in shape (deformation) or a change in velocity (deceleration or acceleration). If tissue tolerance is exceeded, a push can cause contusions, hematomas, and fractures while a pull results in sprains, strains, and dislocations. A large magnitude of force applied to tissue results in macrotrauma, such as sprains, strains, and crush injuries. Smaller forces that recur over long and/or repetitive sequences result in microtrauma, such as stress fractures and overuse syndromes.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Recommended Reading
Merrick MA (2002) Secondary injury after musculoskeletal trauma: a review and update. J Athl Train 37(2):209–217
Knight KL (1995) Cryotherapy in sports injury management. Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL, pp 3–98
Kannus P, Parkkari J, Jarvinen TLN, Jarvinen TAH, Jarvinen M (2003) Basic science and clinical studies coincide: active treatment approach is needed after a sports injury. Scand J Med Sci Sports 13:150–154
Murray IR, Murray SA, MacKenzie K, Coleman S (2005) How evidence based in the management of two common sports injuries in a sports injury clinic? Br J Sports Med 39:912–916
Murphy DF, Connolly DA, Beynnon BD (2003) Risk factors for lower extremity injury: a review of the literature. Br J Sports Med 37:13–29
Toumi H, Best TT (2003) The inflammatory response: friend of enemy for muscle injury? Br J Sports Med 37:284–286
Paoloni JA, Brukner P (2005) The use of therapeutic medications for soft tissue injuries in sports medicine. Med J Aust 183(7):384–388
Stiell I, Wells G, Laupacis A, Brison R, Verbeek R, Vandeheem K, Naylor CD (1995) Multicentre trial to introduce the Ottawa ankle rules for use of radiography in acute ankle injuries. BMJ 311:594–597
Eiff MP (1998) Fracture management for primary care. Saunders, Philadelphia
Simon RR (1995) Emergency orthopedics the extremities. Appleton & Lange, Norwalk, CT
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lynch, J.M., Stanley-Green, S. (2011). Soft Tissue Injuries. In: Daniels, J., Hoffman, M. (eds) Common Musculoskeletal Problems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5523-4_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5523-4_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-5522-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-5523-4
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)