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Musculoskeletal injuries are injuries to the muscles and skeletal system that may affect your muscles, joints, bones, ligaments, and tendons. As these muscles, joints, bones, etc., help in our daily activities, an injury means a sudden pause from your daily lifestyle, causing significant discomfort or loss of productivity. So, understanding these injuries thoroughly greatly helps us to address the issue. It is common to be confused about when to immobilise, when to exercise, and how much to exercise. The first step of treatment is to understand that one size doesn’t fit all. It depends on the nature of your injury, the site of the injury, and the extent of the injury.
What Are the Types of Musculoskeletal Injuries?
Let us discuss the most common types of musculoskeletal injuries.
1. Bone Fractures
A bone fracture is the breakage of bone due to an accident or fall. These injuries may even break through your skin and cause an infection. A medical expert will implement the most suitable treatment plan, depending on your type of fracture and severity.
2. Ligament Tears
Ligaments hold your bones together. A tear in them may hamper your joint function. The reasons behind ligament tears may include:
3. Falling down
Getting your ankles twisted
Carelessly extending your joints, causing a sprain
The most vulnerable areas of your body for this type of injury are knees, ankles, and wrists.
4. Tendon Tears
Tendons connect your muscles to your bones. Overusing your tendons to carry heavy items may cause this injury. Athletes, carpenters, gardeners, and musicians are more vulnerable. Tendon tears may affect our elbows, shoulders, hips, knees, wrists, or ankles.
5. Muscle Tears
Such injuries also result from too much pressure or strain on some parts of your muscles. It can either be because of an accident or incorrect or overuse of your muscles. Depending on the seriousness of this injury, your doctor will recommend immobilisation methods.
6. Muscle Spasms
Muscle spams can result from muscular tension, abnormal blood flow, some previous health issues, overuse of your muscles, dehydration, or electrolyte imbalances. Age, body weight, or pregnancy may also result in muscle spasms. Your doctor will analyse the reason behind the spasm and will suggest appropriate methods to deal with it.
Ways to Manage Musculoskeletal Injuries
An experienced medical practitioner will prescribe you individualised management techniques as your condition requires. However, in this section, we will discuss the most common treatment implementations for musculoskeletal injuries.
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Bone Fractures
The immobilisation methods for this type of injury usually follow the below methods.
Plaster casts from outside, or
metal (plate & screws) or rod (nail) inside the body
It can hold your bones together till the body heals and unites the bone.
Our body can heal the bones by itself. But they must be held in the appropriate position and approximation until they heal naturally. Usually, the complete healing of your bone will take about 4 weeks to 6 months. The timeline depends upon the type of bone and fracture.
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Ligament Injuries
Ligament injuries can be of different forms:
- Grade 1: Stretches
- Grade 2: Partial tears
- Grade 3: Complete tear.
Grade 1 and 2 ligament injuries often heal naturally. Hence, your doctor will usually recommend splints or supports. Most of the time, they are sufficient to heal your ligaments.
However, certain ligament injuries, like the knee ACL, do not heal naturally. Complete ligament tears may not heal on their own. Doctors may recommend surgical interventions to treat such conditions. Ligaments take 4 to 6 weeks to heal.
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Tendon Tears
Tendon tears usually cause a gap in between due to the muscle pull. Hence, most tendon tears need surgical repair. Your doctor may implement a brief period of splinting followed by early mobilisation. Certain partial tendon injuries may also heal naturally. Your tendon usually completely heals in about 6 weeks to 3 months. However, you need to stay cautious post-repair. Once the healing starts, you need to start early mobilisation to prevent adhesions (stiffness).
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Muscle Tears
Muscle tears usually heal naturally. They are kind of remarkable in this perspective. Unless this injury is associated with a large haematoma (blood clot) or gap in between, they do not require complicated attention. A brief period of immobilisation (2-3 weeks) with splints or supports would be sufficient to heal the muscle in most instances. Muscle tears usually heal within 4 to 6 weeks.
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Muscle Spasm
A muscle spasm is considered your muscles’ protective mode whenever an unexpected stretch occurs. This tightness may also be because of repetitive strain or irritation. In such cases, rest and immobilisation can make the muscles stiffer! So, your doctor may usually show you some early stretches followed by strengthening (Eccentric) exercises as treatment. Muscle spasms may last for weeks, months, or even years. So, it is important to follow reconditioning techniques and early exercises. Prevention is the best treatment for muscle spasms.
Understanding that not all musculoskeletal injuries can be treated the same way is crucial. Depending upon the nature of your injury, the top orthopaedic surgeon at Manipal Hospitals, Sarjapur Road, Bangalore, will discuss the management measures. They can be immobilisation (internal/external, rigid/removable) / stretching/strengthening exercises.
FAQ's
No, if you have a muscle tear, you must give it a rest. Do not put more strain on them, or the situation will worsen. Talk to your doctor about appropriate measures.
It completely depends on your type of bone and type of fracture. The timeline usually varies between 4 weeks to 6 months.
Yes, but first, you need to follow certain immobilisation methods. Your doctor will guide you on when the right time to implement stretching exercises is. Follow that strictly to avoid complications.
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