Muscle contusions, often called muscle bruises, are injuries caused by a direct blow and then trauma to the muscle. These injuries can affect an individual’s ability to move and perform daily activities. Recovery from a muscle contusion can be challenging, but sports physiotherapy Edmonton is vital in helping individuals return to their normal activities from muscle contusion.
Understanding Muscle Contusions: Symptoms and Severity
Muscle contusion occurs when a muscle gets hit forcefully during sports activities, damaging the muscle fibres and surrounding tissues. This injury typically results in pain, swelling, and bruising, hindering the muscle’s function.
The severity of muscle contusions can vary, ranging from minor bruises with minimal damage to more severe contusions involving significant muscle injury.
Common symptoms include soreness and sensitivity in the affected area, swelling due to fluid accumulation, discoloration of the skin from red to purple, indicating pooled blood, restricted movement as the muscle may become stiff, and tenderness when the area is touched or moved.
How Can Physiotherapy Help Treat a Muscle Contusion?
Sports injury physiotherapy is crucial in helping individuals heal faster and return to normal activities. Here’s how sports physiotherapy in Edmonton can assist in treating a muscle contusion:
Pain Management
- The first step is to conduct a thorough assessment to determine how severe the injury is. Managing pain is a critical focus in the initial stages of recovery. Physiotherapists use cold therapy, such as ice packs, over the muscles to reduce inflammation and numb the area, providing relief during the first 48 hours. Once the initial inflammation decreases, heat therapy improves blood circulation and relaxes the muscle. Additionally, manual therapy techniques, including gentle massage, help to ease muscle tension and promote healing.
- To address swelling, physiotherapists implement strategies like elevation, which helps fluids drain away from the injured area, and compression bandages, which support the muscle and reduce swelling. This comprehensive approach ensures effective healing and supports a return to normal function.
Exercise Therapy
Exercise therapy for muscle contusion involves a structured approach that includes stretching, strengthening, and functional training.
- Stretching Exercises: Initially, stretching exercises like the Standing Hamstring Stretch are essential for restoring range of motion (ROM) by gradually improving flexibility and preventing muscle stiffness. This exercise involves standing tall and placing one heel on a low surface while gently bending forward at the hips, which causes the back of the thigh to stretch, helping the muscle heal without losing mobility. Mobilization techniques, such as Ankle Circles, are also used to enhance joint flexibility and support muscle recovery. This technique involves rotating the ankle in circular motions, which maintains flexibility in the joints near the injury, aiding overall recovery.
- Strengthening Exercises: Once pain and swelling have subsided, strengthening exercises like the Quadriceps Set and Leg Raises with Resistance Bands are introduced to restore muscle function and prevent future injuries. The Quadriceps Set, which involves tightening the thigh muscle without moving the knee, helps maintain muscle tone while minimizing strain, and the Leg Raises gradually build strength by increasing resistance.
- Functional Training: Finally, functional training, including sport-specific drills like the Lateral Shuffle for athletes and rehabilitation exercises like Step-Ups, prepares individuals to return to daily activities or sports with confidence. The Lateral Shuffle improves agility, coordination, and muscle strength, ensuring a safe and effective muscle contusion recovery and minimizing re-injury risk.
Electrotherapy
- Electrotherapy involves using electrical impulses to stimulate muscle and nerve activity, which can be highly beneficial in the early stages of a muscle contusion. It relieves pain, as the electrical impulses block pain signals to the brain, reducing discomfort associated with the injury. Additionally, electrotherapy promotes blood flow, aiding in the drainage of excess fluids and reducing swelling in the affected area. It also gently stimulates the injured muscle, helping maintain muscle tone and prevent atrophy during recovery.
- Standard electrotherapy techniques include TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation), which uses low-voltage electrical currents to relieve pain and stimulate blood flow, and EMS (Electrical Muscle Stimulation), which directly stimulates the muscle, encouraging contractions to maintain muscle tone and promote healing from muscle contusion.
Massage Therapy
- Massage Therapy is an effective treatment significantly as the initial acute symptoms worsen. It improves circulation, increases blood flow to the injured area, and delivers essential nutrients and oxygen to the healing tissues. Massage therapy also reduces muscle tension and the likelihood of scar tissue formation. Additionally, it aids in stimulating the endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers.
- Standard massage techniques include effleurage, a gentle stroking technique used to warm up tissues and promote relaxation; petrissage, a kneading technique that loosens tight muscles and improves circulation; and friction massage, a more targeted technique used to break down scar tissue and adhesions, particularly beneficial as the muscle begins to heal and regain normal function.
Complications can occur from a contusion.
Complications from discoloration can range from mild to severe, depending on the injury’s extent. Common issues include prolonged pain and swelling, muscle stiffness, and restricted range of motion. In more severe cases, complications like hematoma (blood collection outside blood vessels) and compartment syndrome (increased pressure within the muscle compartments) occur where bone tissue forms inside the muscle. These complications can delay recovery, so proper diagnosis and treatment are essential to avoid long-term damage.
Get Back on Track with Physiotherapy Care
Muscle contusions can be painful and disruptive, but with the help of physiotherapy, recovery can be more effective and efficient. Physiotherapists at Next Step Physio Clinic offer sports physiotherapy in Edmonton to support your recovery. If you’ve searched for a “sports physio near me,” consider contacting us for expert guidance and personalized care throughout your recovery process.
Contact Next Step Physiotherapy Clinic:
For more information about muscle contusion recovery and to schedule an appointment, please contact us. Our dedicated team is here to assist you in your journey to total health and functionality.
