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Soft Tissue Healing

What is a Soft Tissue Injury?

A soft tissue injury is damage done to a ligament, tendon, or muscle. An injury can be the result of one fall or blow to the body, or the product of overuse to a specific body part during everyday activities. Whether the injury was caused by a single bout or repeated stress, the final result is damage and pain. 

Since Westwood Physical Therapy utilizes a wide range of skilled interventions when treating soft tissue injuries, our highly-trained licensed physical therapists provides you with the most functional results. Westwood Physical Therapy offers the HEALING TOUCH for all injuries.

Types of Soft Tissue Injuries

Prevention of a Soft Tissue Injury

Symptoms and Degrees of Soft Tissue Injuries

Modalities Used to Treat a Soft Tissue Injury

Types of Soft Tissue Injuries:

Soft tissue injuries are not limited to the spine and are in fact often seen all over the body. A few common examples would be: an ankle sprain, elbow tendonitis, back strain, knee sprain, or even a thigh contusion. The following are different forms soft tissue injuries:

• Sprain/strain: A sprain is the stretching and sometimes tearing of a ligament. Often swelling, discoloration, and inflammation result. A strain is very similar but is an injury to a tendon or muscle instead of a ligament

• Repetetive Stress Injuries and Stress Fracture: Overuse of a muscle, tendon, ligament, or bone beyond its physical limit. This leads to microtrauma to the area, which often results in swelling and inflammation and pain, and over time can lead to tears and stress fractures

• Contusion: A bruise; an injury where blood vessels are broken and skin discoloration takes place

• Tendonitis: Inflammation of a tendon, almost always due to overuse, such as tennis elbow

• Bursitis: Inflammation of a bursa, a sac that eases friction between a bone and a tendon

Prevention of a Soft Tissue Injury:

Soft tissue injuries can not always be prevented, especially during athletics; accidents are going to happen. However, there are a few preventative measures you can take:
• Warm up and stretch before exercise. Cool down and stretch after exercise
• Take a break from exercise when you feel fatigued
• Do strengthening exercises in areas that are weak and prone to injury
• Regularly stretch your muscles, not just before and after exercise
• Most importantly, learn the correct technique for your exercise. Poor form can greatly increase your risk of injury

Symptoms and Degrees of Soft Tissue Injuries:

• Symptoms include: pain, swelling, redness, bruising, decreased range of motion, tenderness, and inability to apply pressure to the injury.
• There are three degrees to a soft tissue injury. They are diagnosed based on the extent of the injury:
• First Degree (mild): Stretching and microtearing
• Second Degree (moderate): Partial tearing and mild instability
• Third Degree (severe): Severe or complete tearing and significant instability

Modalities Used To Treat Soft Tissue Injuries Explained:

Ultrasound: A type of sound with a frequency high enough that humans cannot hear it, hence ultrasound.  It penetrates muscles to cause deep tissue and muscle warming.  This promotes tissue relaxation and therefore is good for muscle tightness and spasms.  Also, the warmth of the ultrasound increases circulation to promote healing.

Electrical Stimulation: Uses single electrical current to cause muscle(s) to contract.  It also helps strengthen muscle fibers and promotes blood supply to the area.

P.R.I.C.E.: Protection, Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation... This easy-to-remember acronym can be done at home to help reduce swelling around the injured area.  The ice helps constrict the blood vessels from flowing to the injured area, which causes the swelling.  The elevation uses gravity to draw blood away from the injured area to reduce swelling.

Laser Light Therapy: Please click here to read our Laser Light Therapy page.

Hot (Pack) Therapy: Heat is used for several purposes: to improve blood circulation to the area by causing vasodilatation, to relax musculature and to relieve pain caused by muscle spasms or tension.

Cold (Pack) Therapy: Cold therapy helps to encourage vasoconstriction of the blood vessels to reduce swelling, inflammation, muscle spasm and pain. 

Paraffin: Paraffin is a means of delivering heat to areas that are difficult to heat such as the hand. It is a warm liquid wax that is used to increase local metabolism, increase local perspiration, promotion of muscle relaxation, sedation of sensory nerve endings reducing pain and softening of the skin.

TENS: TENS is transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. It is a small portable unit with a relatively low voltage applied over painful areas. The electrical stimulation applied to the area overrides the sensation of pain.

Micro-current: Micro-current is the application of tiny amounts of electrical current to the injured part of the body. This results in endorphin release, increased blood flow and oxygenation to the injury site, accelerated tissue healing and decreased pain.

Taping: Click here to read about our taping procedures. Taping is often used to unload a sprained muscle to ease pain, promote healing, and regain normal muscle length