HEALTH & WELLNESS
Tracey Evans
The Physiotherapy Centre
[email protected]
(+34) 609 353 805
Bumps and Bruises
Boatyard time again and
the season for bumps and
bruises has arrived. Our body
is constantly healing itself as
we knock ourselves about
every day and after the initial
“ouch”, we generally tend to
ignore the resultant bruising.
Direct trauma to our muscles,
such as walking into a
stanchion or falling off your
bike can cause a bruise (or
haematoma). This is a pool of
blood which has formed from
the damaged and now leaking
tiny blood vessels (veins and
capillaries). The blood in our
vessels is constantly on the
move and so it does not clot,
however a bruise is contained
within the soft tissues and is
not flowing and so clotting
occurs giving rise to a rainbow
of colours as the blood
coagulates. These colours
change and lighten as our
body takes away the damaged
cells and pooled blood and
replaces the tissues with
new cells.
There is little doubt that
there are numerous angles
and pointy bits on yachts
with which to experience a
heamatoma but they are also
frequently caused in other
ways such as contact sports,
falls and overstraining at the
gym. Generally the blunter
the point of impact, the wider
the distribution of the bruise.
When a bruise has formed
from a point of impact it will
be medically termed as a
contusion. Deeper contusions
usually form in areas of high
muscle density such as the
quadraceps, hamstrings, calf
muscle, biceps and triceps.A mild contusion will
not bother the range of
movement of the limb too
much. There will be some
discolouration of the skin
and some swelling. Normal
activities can continue
undisrupted and often the
sufferer does not remember
how it happened.A moderate contusion
produces a larger bruise with
obvious swelling and there
will be some restriction of
movement and pain. The limb
will stiffen up overnight and
if movement continues to be
restricted over the next few
days the sufferer should now
seek some help to hasten
the recovery.A severe contusion does not
necessarily have to be an
enormous widespread bruise
as it may be very deep into
the muscle bulk and so can
be deceiving. The sufferer will
certainly remember how they
received the injury and will
be incapacitated.It is important to remember
that everyone has a different
response to bruising, for
example if you are taking
blood thinning medication
such as aspirin or are diabetic,
it would be a good idea to
have the contusion assessed
by a medical professional.The physiotherapy treatments
for haematomas / contusions
will include ice treatment atthe appropriate time post
injury, compression, ultra-
sound and graded stretching
of the involved muscle groups
(again at the correct time
post injury) Ultra-sound
(therapeutic not investigatory)
is applied to the periphery of
the contusion. Your physio
will use ultra-sound to cause a
tiny vibration at the edges of
the contusion which helps to
loosen the coagulating blood
for it to be faster absorbed
and reduce in size allowing
the body to quickly replace
the damaged cells.Why Bother to Seek Medical
Advice for Aa Bruise?The bigger the bruise, the
longer the healing time, the
stiffer you will become is
one answer.At the Physiotherapy
Centre in Mallorca we have
seen some very impressive
contusions covering almost
half a limb or buttock from
bumps into cleats, companion
ways, stanchions, winches,booms and hatch falls. Many
more from rugby, football, jet
skiing and martial arts.In some cases of a deep
contusion a complication can
appear if left untreated called
Myositis Ossificans. Usually
seen in the thigh or gluteal
(bottom) muscles it can also
occur in the arm or lower leg
when the pool of leaked blood
has been stuck in the soft
tissues for so long that it starts
to calcify. This calcification
causes gravel sized lumps to
interfere with the extensibility
and contractibility of the
muscle and other soft tissues
prolonging pain and swelling
and decreasing function.Myositis Ossificans can be
diagnosed with an X-Ray
and may result in a surgical
procedure to remove the
calcification which will
then require further
post-surgical rehab!So if in doubt get it
checked out!