Musculoskeletal Injuries
- Moises Alaniz
- Jun 22
- 6 min read
By Moises Alaniz, Health & Wellness Coach
There are four types of muscle, bone and joint injuries:
1) Fractures: A break or disruption in bone tissue
Fractures are commonly caused by direct, indirect or twisting forces
Fractures are classified as open or closed : Open fractures occur when the skin over the fracture site is broken.Closed fractures leave the skin unbroken and are more common than open fractures
Bone fracture vs. break
Bone fractures and broken bones are the same injury and mean the same thing. You might see them used interchangeably. A fracture is the medical term for a broken bone, so your healthcare provider will probably refer to your broken bone as a certain type of fracture after they diagnose it.
Bone fracture vs. bone bruise
Bone fractures and bone bruises are both painful injuries caused by a strong force hitting your body — usually a fall, car accident or sports injury. The difference is how damaged your bone is.
Your bones are living tissue that can get bruised in lots of the same ways your skin can. It takes much more force to bruise a bone than it does your skin, but the injury is very similar. If something hits your bones with enough force, they can bleed without being broken. Blood trapped under the surface of your bone after an injury is a bone bruise.
A bone fracture happens when something hits your bone with enough force not only to damage it, but to break it in at least one place. Fractures are more serious injuries and can take much longer to heal than bone bruises.
If you’ve experienced a trauma and have pain on or near a bone, go to the emergency room or visit your provider as soon as possible. No matter which injury you have, it’s important to get your bone examined right away.
Bone fractures vs. sprains
Bone fractures and sprains are common sports injuries.
If you experience a bone fracture, you’ve broken one or more of your bones. You can’t sprain a bone. A sprain happens when one of your ligaments is stretched or torn.
It’s possible to experience a bone fracture and a ligament sprain during the same injury, especially if you damage a joint like your knee or elbow.
2) Sprain: A partial or complete tearing or stretching of ligaments and other tissues at a joint. A sprain usually results when the bones that form the joint are forced beyond their normal range.
A sprain is an injury that happens when one of your ligaments is stretched or torn.
Ligaments are bands of tissue that connect bones throughout your body. They’re like ropes that hold your muscles and bones together and prevent them from moving too far. Ligaments also make sure your joints only move in the direction(s) they’re supposed to.
Sprains happen when ligaments around one of your joints are damaged. Visit a healthcare provider if you notice pain, swelling or it’s hard to use or put weight on a joint — especially if you’ve experienced a fall, injury or accident.
Types of sprains
Any joint supported by ligaments can be sprained. The most commonly sprained joints are:
Ankle sprains (including high ankle sprains).
Knee sprains.
Finger sprains (sometimes called jammed fingers).
What causes sprains?
Anything that forces your joint to move too much or too far can cause a sprain. The most common causes include:
Falls.
Slipping and catching yourself suddenly.
Rolling an ankle or twisting a knee while walking, running or jumping.
Repetitive strain injuries (overusing a joint or performing a repetitive motion for work, a sport or a hobby).
What are the risk factors for sprains?
Anyone can experience a sprain, but some people are more likely to sprain a joint, including:
Athletes.
Workers with physically demanding jobs.
People who have a hobby or activity that makes them perform repetitive motions.
Exercise habits that can increase your injury risk (especially sprains) include:
Suddenly increasing your workout or activity intensity.
Starting a new sport or activity without the proper equipment or training (working out with poor form or wearing the wrong kind of shoes, for example).
Playing the same sport year-round with no offseason.
3) Strain: A stretching and tearing of muscle or tendon fibers. A strain is sometimes called a muscle pull or tear. Strains often result from overexertion, such as lifting something too heavy or working a muscle too hard.
Strains are classified with three grades to indicate how severe they are. Most people can recover by resting their muscle and using at-home treatments like ice and over-the-counter medicine. If you’re feeling pain for a few weeks after your injury or have severe symptoms, see your healthcare provider.
What is the difference between a muscle strain and a pulled muscle?
There’s no difference between a strained muscled and a pulled muscle. People use the terms interchangeably. The same is true for a strained muscle and a torn muscle. They’re the same injury with the same symptoms and treatments.
Muscle strains vs. hernias
Muscles strains and hernias can both be caused by overuse, but they’re different injuries.
Muscles strains are caused by tears in the fibers of your muscles. Unless they’re very severe, you can treat a muscle strain at home with rest, icing and over-the-counter medicine.
Hernias happen when one of your internal organs or other body parts breaks through the wall of muscle or tissue that normally holds it in place. Hernias usually don’t get better on their own, and you’ll probably need surgery to repair one.
Muscle strains and other injuries
There are lots of common injuries that cause muscle pain similar to muscle strains, including:
Herniated disks.
Talk to your provider if you experience any sudden, sharp pain in your body, especially if it happens during physical activity like a workout or playing sports.
How common are muscle strains?
Muscle strains are very common. They’re one of the most common injuries people experience.
How do muscle strains affect my body?
Muscle strains happen when you tear a muscle. They’re painful. They might also cause other symptoms like bruising and weakness.
Your muscles are made of thousands of small fibers woven together. These fibers stretching and pressing together are what allow your body to move when you squeeze a muscle.
When you overuse a muscle, the strands of muscle fiber are stretched beyond their limit and tear apart. If you’ve ever tried to use an old bungee cord to hold something in place you’ve seen this happen.
New bungee cords — and healthy muscle fibers — have plenty of give and stretch. But if you use them for too long or suddenly jerk on them too hard, the elastic fibers in the bungee cord will start to pull apart. It’s the same way in your muscles. Strains are what happens when some of the thousands of fibers in your muscles are pulled beyond their limit and tear.
You can strain muscles anywhere in your body. Some of the most common include:
4) Dislocation: A displacement or separation of a bone from its normal position at a joint. As with a fracture, dislocations can be caused by severe direct, indirect or twisting forces.
Giving proper care is more important that identifying the type of injury. Assume that any injury to an extremity includes a bone fracture. The general care to muscles, bones and joints includes following RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.
A dislocation is an injury that forces the bones in a joint out of position. The cause is usually a fall, a car accident or an injury during contact sports.
Dislocation mostly involves the body's larger joints. The most common site of injury is the shoulder. For young children, the elbow is a common site. Smaller joints, such as the thumbs and fingers, also can be dislocated if bent the wrong way with force.
Symptoms
The injury will deform the joint and make it hard to move. Dislocation might cause sudden and severe pain and swelling. A dislocation needs prompt medical attention to put the bones back in place.
Treatment
If you believe you have dislocated a joint:
Don't put off medical care. Get medical help as soon as you can.
Don't move the joint. Until you get help, use a splint to keep the affected joint from moving. Don't try to move a dislocated joint or force it back into place. This can damage the joint and the muscles, ligaments, nerves or blood vessels around it.
Put ice on the injured joint. This can help reduce swelling. Ice can control bleeding inside the body and keep fluids from building up in and around the injured joint.
Splinting
Splinting is a method of immobilizing an injured extremity and should only be used if you have to move or transport a person to seek medical attention and if splinting does not cause more pain.
If you have to splint:
Splint an injury in the position in which you find it
Splint the injured area and the joints and bones above and below the injury site
Check for circulation (feeling, warmth and color) before and after splinting
There are several types of splints:
Soft splints include folded blankets, towels, pillows and a sling
Rigid splints include boards, metal strips and folded magazines and newspapers
Anatomical splints use an uninjured body part as a splint to immobilize an injured area
The ground can be used as a splint.An injured leg stretched out on the ground is splinted
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