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Soft Tissue Injuries (STI’s)

A soft tissue injury is an injury to a muscle, connective tissue, ligament or tendon. This can be due to a one off traumatic incident or due to repeated overuse.

There are many types of STI’s with several common signs and symptoms.

A sign is something you can see. A symptom is what a person complains of.

Signs and symptoms of STI’s

• Effusion
• Heat
• Instability (e.g. giving way)
• Loss of function
• Oedema
• Pain
• Redness
• Stiffness
• Swelling
• Weakness

Types of STI’s

• Bursitis
• Contusion (bruise)
• Dislocation
• Laceration
• Sprain
• Strain
• Tendinitis
• Tenosynovitis

Bursitis

A bursa is a fluid filled sac found between a bone and a tendon/muscle.

Bursitis is inflammation of this sac due to overuse/small stresses.

This is often seen at the knee and results in pain, swelling, redness, heat and loss of function.

Contusion

An injury caused by a blunt force resulting in a bruise, pain and swelling.

A bruise is bleeding under the skin due to capillary damage.

Dislocation

The displacement of one bone from another within a joint, most commonly seen at the shoulder due to its natural instability through giving maximal mobility.

Depending on the severity of the dislocation there maybe damage to surrounding nerves and blood vessels and possible damage to bone.

Dislocation maybe caused by trauma or ligament laxity if previous dislocations have taken place.

Signs and symptoms

• Loss of power and movement
• Sudden pain
• Swelling of the joint
• Tenderness
• Visible deformity

Laceration

A cut or tear to the skin with damage to deeper tissues, resulting in pain, swelling, redness, heat, loss of function and power.

Sprain

An injury to a ligament commonly due to a twisting force.

Common at the ankle, knee and wrist.

Results in pain, swelling, heat, redness, stiffness, loss of function and deformity.

There are three grades of sprains (Kellet, 1986).

Strain

An injury to a muscle or tendon caused by overuse (repetitive strain injury), stretching or external force.

Strains result in pain, swelling, heat, redness, loss of function and weakness.

There are three grades of strain (Kellet, 1986).

Grades of Injury. Grade I-III (Kellet, 1986)

• Grade I sprain/strain - there is failure of some fibres, causing pain but no instability
• Grade II sprain/strain - partial rupture of fibres upto 50%, with severe pain and some instability
• Grade III sprain/strain - over 50% of fibres ruptured to complete rupture, with marked joint instability, causing severe pain and articular damage. Surgery is required

Tendinitis

Inflammation of a tendon due to overuse, resulting in pain, swelling/thickening, redness and loss of function.

Common examples include tennis and golfers elbow.

Tenosynovitis

Is inflammation of the tendon sheath due to overuse, resulting in redness, heat unlike tendonitis, swelling, pain and loss of function.

References

Kelet,J.(1986) Acute soft tissue injuries- a review of the literature, Medical Science and Exercise. Vol;18:489-500

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