What Are Soft Tissue Injuries?

Soft tissue injuries occur when there is damage to the body’s connective tissue such as muscles, ligaments, and tendons.

Sudden force, such as a collision, causes damage to these tissues by pulling, tearing, or compressing them.

Depending on the severity of the impact or strain, soft tissue injuries can take weeks, or sometimes months, to heal. This is why it is important to seek help if you have suffered one of these injuries.

Types of Soft Tissue Injury

There are many forms of soft tissue injury. These are some of the most common ones experienced by victims of car accidents.

Whiplash

Whiplash is one of the most common soft tissue injuries and can be one of the most problematic. A sudden jolt to the neck at speeds as low as 5 mph can cause whiplash, which is usually the result of a rear-end collision. This causes an injury to the tissues surrounding the shoulders, neck, and base of the skull.

Symptoms of whiplash include:

• Stiff neck

• Pain in the neck

• Headaches

• Back problems

• Loss of memory or concentration

These symptoms can present themselves immediately after a car accident or can take hours or days to develop. If left untreated, whiplash can become a chronic problem, so it is advisable to seek treatment as soon as possible.

Sprains

A sprain is a tearing or stretching of ligaments (tough bands of tissue that connect bones in the joints). The most common joint to sprain is the ankle.

Symptoms of a sprain include:

• Pain

• Bruising

• Swelling

• Feeling or hearing a “pop” in the joint at the time of injury

• Limited ability to move the affected joint

Strains (Muscle Tears)

Also called a pulled muscle, a strain is when a muscle is stretched too much and tears. Strains are very painful and can be caused by a car accident, using a muscle in the wrong way, or overusing a muscle.

Symptoms of strains include:

• Pain or tenderness

• Swelling

• Bruising or redness

• Muscle spasms

• Limited motion

• Muscle weakness

Contusions (Bruises)

A contusion – the medical term for a bruise – is a type of hematoma, which is a collection of blood outside a blood vessel. This is caused by injured blood vessels or capillaries leaking blood into the surrounding area.

Symptoms of contusions vary depending on whether they are located on your bone, muscle, or skin tissue and may include:

• Swelling or stiffness

• Tenderness

• Pain

• Difficulty using the affected area

• A small bump

• Discolored skin that’s green, red, black, blue, or purple

Common Causes of Soft Tissue Injuries

As we’ve discussed, car accidents are one of the main causes of soft tissue injuries. This is because the impact of a collision causes the body to jolt, which causes soft tissues to strain or tear.

Other causes of soft tissue injuries include:

• Sports

• Heavy lifting

• Repetitive strain

• Falls

• Any activity that can cause a sudden impact on your body or repetitive strain can cause injury.