What are Muscle Contusions and how can Physio Help?

What are muscle contusions?

Contusions are the medical term for a bruise. There are many different levels of contusions, they can be minor, moderate, or major depending on the injury, requiring different treatments.

Contusions are the result of a bang to a part of your body from bumping into something or from a fall etc. Essentially a muscle contusion happens when the muscle is compressed or crushed.

When these bangs to the body happen it causes the fibers in your muscles and small blood vessels to leak out from the injured cells into the surrounding space under the skin. This is what causes the red, brown, blue, purple, and sometimes green colours to appear on the skin. It may also be sensitive to the touch. These contusions may also affect muscle function (strength and flexibility) in the area. Some of the most common contusions we see include:

Front & side of the thigh (quadriceps)
Shin
Calf
Ankle

These symptoms are generally more apparent after the activity when the body has cooled down or the next day. This is why it’s important to be careful as you might not realise the severity of the contusion and may do more damage.

Physio and Contusions

During the first stages of getting a muscle contusion your physio can give you advice on initial treatment such as elevation, compression, and modifying activities. They may also give you some exercises to do to create ROM (range of movement) to encourage small movement of the affected area, but this will depend on the location and the severity of the contusion.

For severe contusions, physiotherapy is recommended and an important part of the recovery process. Manual therapy can help gently mobilise the surrounding muscle and tissue to encourage healing through circulation and alignment of the muscle fibers, this will also help in preventing scar tissue.

Scar tissue may form around the muscle fibers and it can change the way that muscle structure works. It can affect strength and flexibility and it can also be painful and cause prolonged inflammation. Preventing scar tissue within the recovery process will help that muscle perform for years to come.

Here at Ballsbridge Physiotherapy Clinic in Dublin 4, our expert physiotherapists can help you through your muscle contusion. If you are experiencing a lot of swelling or pain from your contusion it's important to get it looked at. Contact us here or book an appointment and we can help you through the recovery process.

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