Strains & Sprains

What are they?

Sprain: Refers to an abnormal stretching or tearing of a ligament. Ligaments are the tough pieces of tissue that hold your bones together. Often, in an athletic event or accident, the ligament between two bones gets stretched in a direction it is not designed to go, or it gets stretched too far. The result is a tear of the tissue itself. These tears can be minor and require only minimal care and time to recover to normal function, or they can be severe and tear the ligament completely in two often requiring surgery to repair.

Strain: Refers to an abnormal stretching or tearing of a muscle or tendon (a piece of tissue that attaches the muscle to the bones). Generally, these hurt a great deal but heal in time and do not require extensive therapy. On occasion, a tendon may rupture or tear completely in two. Sometimes this requires surgery to repair.

What causes them?

Because we are active people, injuries to our ligaments occur frequently doing even just routine daily activities. A common ankle sprain can come able just from stepping wrong or slipping. Knee sprains are fairly common in skiers and other athletes who stop and pivot or who participate in contact sports like football and rugby. Strains of our muscles and tendons happen commonly when we have not warmed up even more before participating in any strenuous activity.

What should you do about them?

1. Initial treatment of sprains and strains is essentially the same and is relatively simple. Because these injuries cause disruption of tissue there is usually bleeding and swelling under the skin. Trying to prevent this swelling is the major objective of initial therapy. Ice is the mainstay of early swelling prevention.
2. For the first 48 hours, ice should be applied to the area affected by the injury. A plastic bag may be filled with ice, wrapped in a dry towel, and placed over the injury. The ice should be left on the injured area for 15 minutes. These 15 minute periods can be alternated for several hours and then repeated later. After 48 hours, ice is probably not helpful.
3. Elevation of the affected body part is also helpful. The elevation should be high enough to get the affected limb above the level of you heart. This may require that you lie flat and put the injured part up on a pillow or two.