To start, what is soft tissue? Soft tissue is the more pliable objects like muscle, tendons, and ligaments and does not include bones. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics is that the most common workplace injuries are sprains and strains, which are injuries to muscles and ligaments (soft tissue). It is common that we injuries these due to overuse and repetitive motions. The best analogy I like to share is ligaments are like a plastic bag. They will stretch but they don’t return to their original position very quickly. On the other hand, muscles are like rubber bands that will stretch and go back to their original length and position. So, ligaments have more of a lag time to recover than muscles and that is when they are commonly injured.
In addition to this, muscles and ligaments have a specific orientation in which they form and move. When you get injured, that orientation is disrupted due to a tear or injury of some sort, your body will lay down as much collagen fibers and as fast as it can to help it heal in any orientation. After there are enough fibers the body will then start to slowly take away some of that tissue to try and make it as close as it can to what it looked and functioned like prior. This is where you get “scar tissue” and jumbled up tissue that is caused by injury or all sorts and can also be the cause of some of that stiffness and pain that you may be feeling in between injuries.
This is where treatment can make a big difference over just letting things heal and not do anything about it. It will probably heal and be strong but will maintain that scar tissue and adhesions, which don’t allow for freely moving tissue. Getting yourself moving well will go a long way for pain and function today and in the future. A lot of the treatments that we use are exercise and movement, Graston or Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization, cupping, taping, and chiropractic adjustments. We will address more of these soon. Stay tuned.
Come in and check out the various soft tissue healing options that we offer.
Tahoe’s Premiere Sports Chiropractor
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